HM Treasury

Beer: Excise Duties

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has for the future level of beer duty.

Damian Hinds: The government continues to keep all taxes under review and decisions on tax policy are made as part of the Budget process. The government is committed to supporting the beer industry. The tax on a typical pint of beer was cut by a penny at March Budget 2015, building on the duty cuts at Budget 2014 and Budget 2013.

Royal Bank of Scotland: Government Shareholding

Ian Blackford: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on reducing the Government's stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) of the (a) decision to defer the redemption of dividend payment by and (b) recent changes in the share price of that bank.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government has consistently said that disposing of our stake in RBS is the right thing to do for the taxpayer and the British economy. Returning RBS to private ownership will promote financial stability, a more competitive banking sector, and the interests of the wider economy. The first sale of government shares in RBS was conducted in August 2015, and raised £2.1 billion for the taxpayer. The government will continue to return RBS to private ownership and conduct further sales of RBS shares, subject to market conditions.

Children: Day Care

Jenny Chapman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to ensure that parents are aware of his proposals on the introduction of tax-free childcare.

Damian Hinds: The Government will publicise the scheme in good time ahead of its introduction through a range of digital and non-digital channels. HM Revenue and Customs will also work with the childcare industry and representative groups who interact regularly with parents to raise awareness of the scheme.

Financial Conduct Authority

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues were discussed at the meeting between Ministers of his Department and representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority on 14 September 2015; and who the attendees were at that meeting.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues were discussed at the meeting that took place between Ministers of his Department and representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority on 9 September 2015; and who the attendees were at that meeting.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues were discussed at the meeting that took place between Ministers of his Department and representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority on 5 August 2015; and who the attendees were at that meeting.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues were discussed at the meeting that took place between Ministers of his Department and representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority on 1 July 2015; and who the attendees were at that meeting.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues were discussed at the meeting that took place between Ministers of his Department and representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority on 1 June 2015; and who the attendees were at that meeting.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues were discussed at the meeting that took place between Ministers of his Department and representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority on 23 January 2015; and who the attendees were at that meeting.

Harriett Baldwin: Treasury Ministers and officials meet regularly with the Financial Conduct Authority to discuss relevant regulatory issues. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Treasury’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Andy Slaughter: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he made prior to his announcement in the Autumn Statement 2015 of the effect on VAT receipts of changes to personal injury law and procedure; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke: It is too early to say what the impact will be since there is still work in progress. The Government will consult on the detail of the new reforms in due course. The consultation will be accompanied by an impact assessment.

Air Passenger Duty

Henry Smith: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on reducing Air Passenger Duty.

Damian Hinds: In the absence of any taxation of international aviation fuel and no VAT on international or domestic flights, Air Passenger Duty (APD) ensures that the aviation sector plays its part in contributing towards general taxation and helping to bring down the deficit. In 2014-15, APD raised £3.2bn, an important part of the Government’s tax revenues. Nevertheless, the Government has recently made reforms to APD to cut the longest haul rates and exempt children, reducing the tax burden by £1.5 billion over the period 2015-2020. Like all taxes, APD is kept under review with any changes announced at fiscal events.

Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) Amendment Regulations 2016

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has carried out an equality impact assessment on the draft Tax Credits (Income Threshold and Determination of Rates) Amendment Regulations 2016.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government carefully considers all relevant legal obligations – including the equalities duty – when formulating welfare policy.

Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) Amendment Regulations 2016

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the maximum reduction in tax credits is that an individual could be subject to as a result of the reduction in the income rise disregard implemented through the draft Tax Credits (Income Threshold and Determination of Rates) Amendment Regulations 2016.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Government's memorandum submitted to the Lords Secondary Legislation Committee on 28 January, how many of the 800,000 tax credit claimants with a reduced award to an income rise above the new level of disregard are women.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Government's memorandum submitted to the Lords Secondary Legislation Committee on 28 January, how many of the 800,000 tax credit claimants with a reduced award to an income rise above the new level of disregard are in receipt of child tax credit.

Damian Hinds: From April 2016, the income rise disregard – the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within a year before their tax credit award is adjusted – will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500. The only people who will be affected by this will be those who see an increase in their in-year income by more than £2,500. There will be no net cash losers because their income will have increased. In the subsequent tax year, a claimant’s tax credits award will be calculated in the usual way, using their full annual income for the previous year to determine their tax credit entitlement. This means that after the change in the tax year, whether the claimant’s increase in income was above or below the disregard level, their tax credit award for the following year will be adjusted to what it would have been had no disregard existed.

Welfare Tax Credits

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was overpaid in tax credits in 2014-15; and what forecast he has made of the level of such overpayments in each of the next three years.

Damian Hinds: The amount of tax credit overpayments for 2014-15 were published in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts. The Annual Report and Accounts for 2015-16 are due to be published in June this year.

Public Sector Debt

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he is making on his plans to begin to reduce public sector net debt as a share of gross domestic product in 2016-17.

Harriett Baldwin: The latest Office for Budget Responsibility forecast published in November 2015 shows that the government is on track to reduce public sector net debt as a share of GDP in 2016-17. The government remains committed to continuing the job of returning the public finances to a more sustainable position. In a low inflationary environment, taking account for economic shocks, the most reliable way to bring debt down as a share of GDP is to run a surplus and maintain it in normal times.

Personal Savings: Interest Rates

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on financial institutions' plans to offer negative or zero rates of interest to savers.

Harriett Baldwin: HM Treasury has not received any representations on financial institutions' plans to offer negative or zero rates of interest to savers. The levels of interest being paid to savers and their disclosure was explored as part of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Cash Savings Market Study report, which was published in January 2015. The report found that competition in the cash savings market was not working well for many consumers and, in response, the FCA has consulted on and will subsequently be introducing new rules from 1 December 2016 designed to both improve competition and the information savers receive. As part of these new rules, firms will need to make it clear to consumers what interest rate they are getting for their account.

Treasury: Regional Planning and Development

Mr David Jones: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.

Greg Hands: Ministers from the Treasury and Wales Office regularly meet with members of the Welsh Government. The Rt. Honourable Member is right to recognise that north Wales is well positioned to play an integral role in the Northern Powerhouse. The UK Government wants to work with the Welsh Government and partners like the Economic Ambition Board to improve productivity and drive further growth in the region.

Personal Pensions: Fees and Charges

Tom Tugendhat: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure full transparency of all charges relating to personal private pensions.

Harriett Baldwin: This question has been passed on to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA will reply to directly to the Honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission

Elections: Tower Hamlets

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent assessment the Commission has made of the level of electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets.

Mr Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission works with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to collate data from police forces about cases of alleged electoral fraud reported each year. This data is published on the Commission’s website.The data show that 49 cases of alleged electoral fraud offences were reported in Tower Hamlets in 2014. Of these cases, no further action was taken following investigation by the police in 39 cases. This was either because the activity involved was not in fact an offence; there was no evidence that an offence had been committed; or there was insufficient evidence to identify a perpetrator. It also included cases which, following investigation, were found not to have involved electoral fraud offences.Five cases were locally resolved with advice from the police or the Returning Officer, and one case resulted in a caution being given. Of the remaining four cases, one resulted in court proceedings being initiated, one awaits prosecution advice and two remain under investigation.A total of 28 cases of alleged electoral fraud offences were reported in Tower Hamlets in 2015. No further action was taken following investigation by the police in 23 cases, and one case was locally resolved. One case awaits prosecution advice and three remain under investigation. The Commission will monitor the outcome of any investigations relating to electoral fraud offences.In advance of the May 2016 elections, the Commission is working closely with the police and electoral administrators in each of the 18 areas it has identified as being at higher risk of allegations of electoral fraud, including Tower Hamlets, to ensure that robust plans are in place to detect and prevent fraud.The Commission also encourages anyone who has evidence that an electoral offence may have been committed to report this to the police, either directly or anonymously through Crimestoppers.

Elections: Tower Hamlets

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether the Electoral Commission has given any early indication to Ministers of the likely outcomes of its investigations into electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets; and when the Commission expects that investigation to be complete.

Mr Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission is not currently carrying out any investigations into electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets. Any allegations of electoral fraud offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983 can only be investigated by the police, on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Metropolitan Police Service is responsible for investigating any allegations relating to elections in Tower Hamlets, and the Commission will monitor the outcome of any investigations relating to electoral fraud offences.In advance of the elections this May, the Commission is working closely with the police and electoral administrators in each of the 18 areas it has identified as being at higher risk of allegations of electoral fraud, including Tower Hamlets, to ensure that robust plans are in place to detect and prevent fraud.

Prime Minister

World Humanitarian Summit

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Prime Minister, whether he plans to attend the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016.

Mr David Cameron: I welcome the UN Secretary-General's leadership in convening the World Humanitarian Summit which comes at a critical time given that there are currently more displaced people globally than at any time since the Second World War. We want to see a renewed commitment to the protection of civilians in conflict, a stronger focus on protecting and empowering women and girls, smarter financing, and a new approach to building resilience to natural hazards before they take place.No decision has yet been taken about the composition of the UK's delegation to the Summit.

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

Paul Flynn: To ask the Prime Minister, if he will publish the guidance provided to government Ministers by the Cabinet Secretary on the entitlement of such Ministers to make use of (a) special advisors, (b) departmental officials and (c) legal advisors to provide advice on the implications of (i) remaining in and (ii) leaving the EU.

Mr David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the letter of 23 February from the Cabinet Secretary, a copy of which can be found on the gov.uk website.

Department for Work and Pensions

Children: Maintenance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much child maintenance debt his Department has written off for (a) 1993 and (b) 2003 scheme cases since April 2015.

Priti Patel: £17.3m of Child Maintenance debt was written off between 1 April 2015 and 31 January 2016 following confirmation from the Parent With Care that they did not want the arrears to be collected. £2.7m was written off where either the Non-Resident Parent or the Parent with Care had died. A further £0.6m was written off for a variety of reasons including: amount being less than £65 due to the Secretary of State or situations where legislation does not permit recovery.

Sick Pay: Donors

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of making medical donors entitled to sick pay while they are recovering from giving a medical donation.

Justin Tomlinson: Employed donors should be able to receive Statutory Sick Pay if they satisfy the qualifying conditions and provide medical evidence which assesses them as unfit for work.

Pensions: EU Countries

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the uprating of pensions of British pensioners living in EU member states with which there was no previous bilateral agreement on the uprating of pensions of the UK leaving the EU.

Justin Tomlinson: The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Of course there is uncertainty about how a vote to leave the EU could impact on access to pensioner benefits for UK pensioners living in other parts of Europe. These questions would need to be answered as part of the process of negotiating the UK’s exit if there is a vote to leave. We could only consider the detail of access to pensions and benefits for people in receipt of UK state pensions who are resident in Europe as part of the process for leaving the EU.

Personal Independence Payment

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of the higher rate of the mobility component of disability living allowance have lost their higher rate following a reassessment for personal independence payments.

Justin Tomlinson: The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances and awards for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)) are published on Gov.UK:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics. In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

State Retirement Pensions: Costs

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost of state pensions to the Government as a proportion of GDP was over each of the last 30 years; and what the projected cost of state pensions as a proportion of GDP is over each of the next 30 years.

Justin Tomlinson: The requested information is available from 1991/92 to 2045/46 in the table below: UK expenditure on State Pension as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)UK expenditure on State Pension as a proportion of GDP per million claimants of State Pension1991-924.0%0.39%1992-934.0%0.39%1993-944.0%0.39%1994-953.9%0.38%1995-963.9%0.36%1996-973.8%0.36%1997-983.8%0.35%1998-993.9%0.35%1999-003.9%0.35%2000-013.8%0.34%2001-024.0%0.35%2002-034.0%0.35%2003-043.9%0.34%2004-053.9%0.33%2005-063.9%0.33%2006-073.8%0.32%2007-083.9%0.32%2008-094.2%0.34%2009-104.6%0.36%2010-114.5%0.35%2011-124.7%0.36%2012-134.9%0.37%2013-144.8%0.37%2014-154.8%0.37%2015-164.9%0.37%2016-174.8%0.37%2017-184.8%0.36%2018-194.8%0.36%2019-204.7%0.36%2020-214.6%0.35%2021/224.7%0.35%2022/234.8%0.35%2023/244.9%0.35%2024/255.0%0.35%2025/265.1%0.35%2026/275.2%0.35%2027/285.2%0.35%2028/295.2%0.35%2029/305.4%0.35%2030/315.5%0.35%2031/325.6%0.36%2032/335.8%0.36%2033/345.9%0.36%2034/355.9%0.36%2035/365.9%0.36%2036/375.9%0.36%2037/386.1%0.36%2038/396.2%0.36%2039/406.3%0.36%2040/416.4%0.36%2041/426.4%0.36%2042/436.5%0.36%2043/446.5%0.36%2044/456.6%0.36%2045/466.6%0.36%

Universal Credit: Telephone Services

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to phase out the use of an 0345 number for the universal credit helpline and replace it with a freephone number.

Priti Patel: DWP have no plans to phase out the 0345 number. The Department is transforming the way it delivers its services embracing new digital channels and technology. The main route to access Universal Credit is online and research shows that around 90% of claimants make their claim online.

Home Office

Crimes of Violence: Greater Manchester

Mr Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the level of violent crime in Greater Manchester.

Mr John Hayes: The independent Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that in the year ending September 2015 violent crime was 25% lower than in June 2010 and shows no significant change compared to the previous year (September 2014). Knife crime offences recorded by the police also remain 14% below the level of offences in 2010.Ending gang violence and exploitation is a priority for the Government and on 13 January 2016 we published a paper setting out our refreshed approach. This has a twin focus concerned with both reducing violence, including knife crime, and protecting vulnerable individuals from exploitation by gangs. We are taking a number of steps to reduce violent crime including supporting proactive policing on knife crime and working with retailers to promote the responsible sales of knives.In addition, as part of the Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, we are funding Greater Manchester Police to deliver a project that aims to identify individuals at risk of becoming engaged in serious and organised crime and offering them an alternative path through a series of potential interventions.

UK Membership of EU

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the immigration status of EU citizens currently resident in the UK.

James Brokenshire: At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. The process for withdrawing from the EU has been set out in the White Paper published on 29 February 2016.

Detainees: Children

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals her Department has made to the children's section of the Refugee Council related to detainees in immigration removal centres who her Department believed to be children in each year since 2009-10.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 03 March 2016



Since the Home Secretary announced the immediate closure of Yarl’s Wood for families with children on 16 December 2010 it has not been the policy of Her Majesty’s Government to detain those we believe are children whilst their asylum claims are under consideration. We do not have records for the number of referrals made in 2009-10.

Female Genital Mutilation

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the Government plans to enforce the reporting duties for female genital mutilation for professionals under Section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, as amended.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the female genital mutilation reporting duties under Section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 apply to professionals who (a) are members of any of the professional bodies on the Accredited Voluntary Register and (b) work in sectors where there is no statutory requirement to be members of a professional body and who themselves are not members of professional bodies.

Karen Bradley: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse.The new FGM mandatory reporting duty requires specified professionals to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police. It applies to teachers and health and social care professionals regulated by a body which is overseen by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (with the exception of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland) in England and Wales.The duty does not apply to non-regulated professionals. This includes non-regulated professionals who are members of bodies on the Accredited Voluntary Register. However, our guidance on the duty is clear that such professionals also have a responsibility to take appropriate action in relation to any identified or suspected case of FGM, in line with wider safeguarding frameworks and guidance, including the multi-agency guidance on FGM which we are putting on a statutory footing.Where professionals fail to comply with the duty, this should be dealt with in accordance with professional bodies’ existing disciplinary procedures.

Immigration Controls: Criminal Records

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what checks are made to determine whether an individual who is not a British citizen has committed any crimes in the UK on a previous occasion at the time of their entry to the UK from another EU country.

James Brokenshire: We take the issue of preventing criminals entering the UK extremely seriously, and we continue to strengthen our borders so that we can prevent crime and protect the public. We carry out 100% checks at passport control to identify persons of interest entering the UK. All passengers are checked against police, security and immigration watchlists and where we are aware of individuals who pose a risk, Border Force officers can – and do - refuse them entry. Checks are also carried out against the vast majority of passengers before they arrive in the UK and, where we can, we stop them from travelling in the first place.Those required to obtain a visa to enter the UK are also checked against a range of police, security and immigration databases for details of any UK or overseas criminal record. All applicants are required to provide details of their criminal history. Where they fail to declare relevant offences/convictions, their application will be refused and they will be subject to a ten-year ban from applying to enter the UK.

Repatriation: EU Nationals

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU migrants left the UK because they had been on job seeker's allowance for three months and had not found a job in the last year.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 04 March 2016



We do not hold the information requested on EU nationals who have departed. We only hold data on EU nationals who have left following immigration enforcement action.We have been clear that EU job seekers will not be supported by UK taxpayers, and can be removed if they have not found work within six months. In addition, the new EU settlement negotiated by the Prime Minster confirms that we do not have to pay Universal Credit to EU nationals who come to the UK as job seekers.From January 2014 to December 2015, we have served over 6,000 administrative removal papers to EEA nationals for a variety of free movement abuses, from non-exercise of Treaty Rights to participation in sham marriages, (2,635 papers were served in 2014, and 3,480 in 2015).

Firearms

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with representatives from shooting and conservation groups on the simplification of firearms legislation.

Mike Penning: Holding answer received on 04 March 2016



Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of these meetings are published on the Cabinet Office website on a quarterly basis at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/cabinet-office.

Asylum: Greater Manchester

Mr David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been housed in each of the 10 authorities within the Greater Manchester area in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 04 March 2016



Figures on asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95 support (dispersed accommodation or subsistence only) by local authority, are published quarterly by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release, in table as_16q in volume 4 of the Asylum data tables. The table below gives the number of asylum seekers housed in dispersed accommodation in each Greater Manchester local authority, as at the end of each year from 2010 to 2015. Asylum seekers housed in dispersed accommodation under Section 95, in the Greater Manchester local authorities, as at end of yearYearBoltonBuryManchesterOldhamRochdaleSalfordStockportTamesideTraffordWiganTotal Greater Manchester2010518322853458366690124143562813,8112011619339725521390690133169552453,886201263524459642432051368177682633,308201369326961844245052288171893373,6792014833358763588855546100217665224,8482015102345595464510206961073061097176,032Notes(1) The data include dependants in receipt of support, but exclude unaccompanied asylum seeking children supported by local authorities(2) The data exclude those supported in initial accommodation(3) Caution should be taken when comparing data for 2012 and earlier with figures from 2013 onwards, due to a change in processing method A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, is available from:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015.

Fires: Housing

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many domestic fires were caused by an electrical source of ignition in each of the last five years broken down by year.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what comparative assessment she has made of recent trends in domestic fires caused by (a) an electrical source of ignition and (b) other reasons for domestic fires.

Mike Penning: Between 1st April 2010 and 31st March 2015 there were over 36,000 accidental dwelling fires in England where the source of ignition was “Electrical Distribution” or “Other Electrical appliances”. Over the same period, there were 149,000 accidental dwelling fires in England.

Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26129, in which constituencies the £380,000 that the Government spent on community organisations preventing female genital mutilation and forced marriage in 2014-15 was spent.

Karen Bradley: In 2014/15, the Government provided over £380,000 to community organisations through the Home Office’s Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Community Engagement Initiative and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s FGM and forced marriage prevention projects.Many of the projects had regional or national remits, or both, meaning it is not possible to breakdown the project spend by constituency. However, areas covered included:BirminghamLeedsBoltonLiverpoolBradfordLondonBristolMilton KeynesCambridgeshireNottinghamshireCardiffOxfordCoventryPortsmouthDerbyRotherhamEssexSolihullExeterStoke-on-TrentGloucesterSurreyGreater ManchesterWalesHertfordshireYorkshire

Police: Training

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training front line officers will receive to ensure they record all forms of religiously motivated hate crime.

Karen Bradley: The police have made great strides in responding to hate crime in recent years. New hate crime guidance, which includes information on dealing with and recording all forms of hate crime was issued to all police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the College of Policing in May 2014.The Government is working closely with the police on the development of the new requirement to record data on religiously motivated hate crime by faith. The National Policing Lead for hate crime will provide guidance and support to forces to ensure there is consistent data collection for religious hate crimes from 1 April this year.

Gangs: Children

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people aged under 18 who have been (a) involved in gang violence and (b) a member of a gang in each year since 2010.

Karen Bradley: There are no centrally held estimates of the numbers of under 18s involved in gang violence or numbers of gang members and we cannot provide a breakdown for each year since 2010. However some police forces collect data locally. The Metropolitan Police Service, for example, state that there were 201 active gangs in London involving 3,628 gang members as of 1 January 2016.

Human Trafficking

Mr Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the level of human trafficking and exploitation in the UK.

Karen Bradley: The Government is taking significant steps forward in tackling the abhorrent crime of modern slavery. We passed the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 which gives law enforcement agencies the tools they need to tackle human trafficking and modern slavery, places a duty on large businesses to report on the actions they are taking to prevent modern slavery in their global supply chains and ensures that perpetrators can receive suitably severe sentences of up to life imprisonment.We have also enhanced support and protection for those victims of this crime. We have extended the definition for those who are entitled to support under the government-funded victim care contract and we are piloting a new model of the National Referral Mechanism to ensure we have the right processes in place for identifying and supporting victims.

Refugees

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on UK membership of the UN 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Refugees: Greece

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support the Government is giving to (a) the government of Greece and (b) civil society organisations in Greece to assist the response to the arrival of migrants and refugees.

James Brokenshire: The UK has contributed over £19 million in humanitarian support to Greece: almost £8 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), almost £7.5 million to Non Governmental Organistions (NGOs), over £1.6 million to the Red Cross, over £1 million to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and almost £1 million of essential supplies (blankets, sleeping mats, tents, solar lanterns, generators). We are assessing how best to target further humanitarian support in 2016, including through EU routes.Through UK aid in Greece, UNHCR expects to support approximately 250,000 migrants and refugees with life-saving humanitarian aid through: reception, protection, accommodation, water and non-food Items. UNHCR and the IOM are also working with the government of Greece to improve their capacity to receive and manage refugees and migrants.In bilateral support to the Government of Greece the UK Government is providing direct support to the Hellenic Coast Guard in the Aegean Sea. The UK Border Force hired offshore patrol vessel, VOS Grace, is currently deployed in the Aegean.In addition, the Government is funding a voluntary returns programme (£2 million over 2 years 2014-2016) and asylum programmes (totalling £600,000 over 3 years) in Greece through NGOs. The Home Office has a long-term secondee to the Greek Government based in Athens, supporting improvements in Greek asylum system capability.In 2016, the UK Government has committed to provide 34 months of staff deployment to Frontex operations in Greece. Debriefing and screening support has also been offered bilaterally to the Hellenic Police. And the UK Government has provided five month-long secondments to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) for deployment at Hotspot sites in both Greece and Italy.

Immigration: USA

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the details of the cooperative arrangement her Department has with the Department of Homeland Security which enables their officials to operate as immigration advisers to airlines operating out of UK airports.

James Brokenshire: We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.US officials have operated as immigration advisers at UK airports since 2007 in an advisory capacity which reflects an established global practice. They hold no authority in the UK, and can only make recommendations to carriers on whether to allow travel

Members: Correspondence

Mr David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 8 February 2016 on behalf of a constituent concerning Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent training sessions in PSHE lessons.

Mr John Hayes: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: UK Membership of EU

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether her Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

Mr Ben Wallace: At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Department of Health

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the announcement in paragraph 1.233 of Budget 2015, HC 1093, of additional funding for children and young people's mental health services, how much of this funding has been spent by NHS England to date; how such funding has been spent; and how much in total he anticipates NHS England will have spent by the end of the current financial year.

Alistair Burt: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 02 March 2016.The correct answer should have been:

In regard to the announcement in paragraph 1.233 of Budget 2015, HC1093 March Budget 2015, of the £1.25 billion additional funding for children and young people's mental health services, the following amount has been allocated to each clinical commissioning group (CCG): For 2015-16, £105 million has been allocated to CCGs, of which:- £75 million has been allocated to transform local services through delivery of the Local Transformation Plans; and- £30 million has been allocated for new community based eating disorder services in every area of the country. For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations, of which£30 million eating disorders funding will be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations. £30 million eating disorders funding will also be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.Year to date spend information is not available.


Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 32.01 KB)




Revised allocations table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 18.6 KB)

Alistair Burt: In regard to the announcement in paragraph 1.233 of Budget 2015, HC1093 March Budget 2015, of the £1.25 billion additional funding for children and young people's mental health services, the following amount has been allocated to each clinical commissioning group (CCG): For 2015-16, £105 million has been allocated to CCGs, of which:- £75 million has been allocated to transform local services through delivery of the Local Transformation Plans; and- £30 million has been allocated for new community based eating disorder services in every area of the country. For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations, of which£30 million eating disorders funding will be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations. £30 million eating disorders funding will also be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.Year to date spend information is not available.


Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 32.01 KB)




Revised allocations table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 18.6 KB)

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 1.233 of the March Budget 2015, how much of the £1.25 billion investment in mental health services has been allocated to children and young people's mental health in each clinical commissioning group in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

Alistair Burt: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 02 March 2016.The correct answer should have been:

In regard to the announcement in paragraph 1.233 of Budget 2015, HC1093 March Budget 2015, of the £1.25 billion additional funding for children and young people's mental health services, the following amount has been allocated to each clinical commissioning group (CCG): For 2015-16, £105 million has been allocated to CCGs, of which:- £75 million has been allocated to transform local services through delivery of the Local Transformation Plans; and- £30 million has been allocated for new community based eating disorder services in every area of the country. For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations, of which£30 million eating disorders funding will be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations. £30 million eating disorders funding will also be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.Year to date spend information is not available.


Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 32.01 KB)




Revised allocations table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 18.6 KB)

Alistair Burt: In regard to the announcement in paragraph 1.233 of Budget 2015, HC1093 March Budget 2015, of the £1.25 billion additional funding for children and young people's mental health services, the following amount has been allocated to each clinical commissioning group (CCG): For 2015-16, £105 million has been allocated to CCGs, of which:- £75 million has been allocated to transform local services through delivery of the Local Transformation Plans; and- £30 million has been allocated for new community based eating disorder services in every area of the country. For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations, of which£30 million eating disorders funding will be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations. £30 million eating disorders funding will also be allocated once the split of this funding has been agreed. The attached table contains a breakdown of the £105 million and the £119 million by CCG.Year to date spend information is not available.


Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 32.01 KB)




Revised allocations table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 18.6 KB)

Department of Health: UK Membership of EU

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

Jane Ellison: At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Medicine: Degrees

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the average cost to the public of each Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree.

Ben Gummer: The Department does not hold information on the average cost to the taxpayer of training someone to become a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in the United Kingdom. The Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent estimates within their report ‘Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2015’, training a doctor for their undergraduate degree (years one-five) to be £240,870 in total. This figure reflects the pre-registration costs of tuition, living expenses and clinical placements.

Graduates: Foreign Nationals

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of foreign students who completed medicine degrees in the UK have taken up employment in the NHS after graduating in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer: The information is not held by the Department.

General Practitioners: Mid Sussex

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients are registered at each GP surgery in Mid Sussex constituency; what the capacity of each such surgery is; and how many such surgeries are over-subscribed.

Alistair Burt: NHS England advises that surgeries do not have a specific maximum number of patients allowed to register at a general practitioner (GP) surgery. If a practice considers that it has too many patients registered, or wishing to register, then it may request a temporary list closure, try and recruit more GPs/nurses, or may extend its premises. NHS England confirms that in Horsham and Mid Sussex there is currently one surgery which has a capped list and has made a formal application to NHS England to close its list which is under consideration. This practice is Ship Street Surgery in East Grinstead. NHS England has provided the information as shown in the following tables. GP practices in the Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group area, with current list sizes (number of registered patients):Meadows Surgery9,643Cowfold Surgery4,575Cuckfield Medical Centre8,624Ship Street Surgery11,811Judges Close Surgery7,857Park Surgery Horsham24,397Rudgwick Medical Centre3,488Courtyard Surgery8,786Lindfield Medical Centre11,150Orchard Surgery Horsham9,418Health Centre at Bowers Place8,099Dolphins Health Centre11,955Newtons Health Centre13,839Mid Sussex Health Care19,322Moatfield Surgery13,713Silverdale Practice11,694Brow Medical Centre6,366Riverside Surgery7,622The Village Surgery8,188Northlands Wood Surgery6,621Ouse Valley Practice6,675Park View Health Partnership5,509Holbrook Surgery15,240Source: NHS England. Validated but unpublished information on GP practice list sizes from an approved statistical collection.

General Practitioners: Mid Sussex

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent GPs were employed in general practices in Mid Sussex constituency in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14.

Alistair Burt: The information is shown in the following table. Total general practitioners (GPs) in selected area, full time equivalents 2009-2014:  200920102011201220132014West Sussex Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT)  Total GPs556556558550  GPs (excluding registrars)469455462474  GPs (excluding retainers and registrars)462452460472  GP Provider355344352357  GP Other107108108115  GP Registrar861019676  GP Retainer7423  East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT  Total GPs236240243242  GPs (excluding registrars)213213219220  GPs (excluding retainers and registrars)208211217218  GP Provider179173173173  GP Other29384345  GP Registrar22272521  GP Retainer5222  NHS High Weald Lewes Havens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)  Total GPs115110GPs (excluding registrars)110110GPs (excluding retainers and registrars)109109GP Provider8078GP Other2931GP Registrar51GP Retainer00NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG  Total GPs134135GPs (excluding registrars)130132GPs (excluding retainers and registrars)129131GP Provider9594GP Other3337GP Registrar43GP Retainer11Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics Notes:Data as at 30 September in each year.NHS Workforce figures are not available by constituency. Mid Sussex constituency was contained within and serviced by East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT and West Sussex Teaching PCT from 2009-2012 and NHS High Weald Lewes Havens CCG and NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG from 2013 onwards. These trusts are not geographically co-terminus and thus the figures are not comparable over a time series.

Mental Health Task Force

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the Government's proposals for implementing the recommendations of the independent Mental Health Taskforce.

Alistair Burt: We welcome the publication of the independent Mental Health Taskforce report and accept its recommendations. We will work with NHS England, other health arm’s length bodies and across government to agree how to take these forward.

Fertility

Oliver Dowden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that information relating to infertility and its treatment is available to those affected.

Jane Ellison: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have a statutory duty to publish information for patients and donors about fertility treatment and the clinics that it licenses. The Authority is currently reviewing the information published on its website following extensive research and is working with NHS Choices to make sure that all patients are directed to the right information at the right time. Individuals with fertility problems can discuss these issues with their general practitioners and ask to be referred to a fertility specialist to discuss the difficulties that they are having in conceiving and the options that are open to them.

Palliative Care

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve the quality of end of life (a) care and (b) provision in the NHS in England.

Ben Gummer: The Government is committed to making improvements in the quality of care people experience at the end of life. In 2014, we set out five priorities for care of the dying person which should underpin the care being delivered to all dying people. The priorities for care state that an individual plan of care, which includes food and drink, symptom control and psychological, social and spiritual support, is agreed, co-ordinated and delivered with compassion. The priorities also set out the critical importance of compassion, respect and dignity in delivering care to dying people and the implications, for staff, commissioners and providers, when making decisions about how end of life care services will meet the needs of local people. The new approach to care, based on these fundamental principles, is being used by clinicians across the country. The Government’s forthcoming response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care will set out further actions we are taking to achieve high quality, personalised end of life care.

Food: Labelling

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to improve consumer awareness of the presence of high-fructose corn syrup in food with better labelling.

Jane Ellison: The Food Information for Consumers Regulation has recently overhauled the food labelling system. Under the regulations, any corn syrup must be clearly marked on all prepacked food products in the ingredients list. All ingredients must be listed by order of weight and in at least the minimum font size, making them clearly apparent to consumers. In addition, nutrition labelling of pre-packed foods, including the amount of total sugars, will be mandatory from 13 December 2016. It will supplement the ingredient information on food labels. Some parts of the food industry already provide nutrition information.

Liver Diseases

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the total cost of treating liver disease was in (a) England and (b) each parliamentary constituency in the last year for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: Information on the total cost of treating liver disease in England and in each parliamentary constituency is not available centrally. Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to National Health Service hospital trusts of providing defined services to patients in a given financial year. Reference costs for acute care are collected by Healthcare Resource Group (HRG), which are standard groupings of similar treatments that use similar resources. HRGs are organised by chapters and sub-chapters, representing different body systems, and HRG sub-chapter GC describes hepatobiliary and pancreatic system disorders. The total costs in the following table, calculated from the national average unit costs and activity submitted in reference costs, will therefore include the costs to NHS hospitals of treating liver and liver related diseases, but also the costs of other related disorders. Estimated total costs (£ millions) to NHS hospitals of treating hepatobiliary and pancreatic system disorders, 2014-15Liver failure disorders£17.7 millionMalignant, hepatobiliary or pancreatic disorders£54.3 millionNon-malignant, hepatobiliary or pancreatic disorders£328.1 millionTotal costs£400.0 millionSource: reference costs, Department of Health Notes:The following HRGs are included in the table:Liver Failure Disorders with Multiple InterventionsLiver Failure Disorders with Single InterventionLiver Failure Disorders without Interventions, with CC (Complication and Comorbidity) Score 5+Liver Failure Disorders without Interventions, with CC Score 0-4Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple InterventionsMalignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 5+Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 2-4Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 0-1Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 6+Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 3-5Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 1-2Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 0Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 9+Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 4-8Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 0-3Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 9+Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 4-8Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, with Single Intervention, with CC Score 0-3Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 8+Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 5-7Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 2-4Non-Malignant, Hepatobiliary or Pancreatic Disorders, without Interventions, with CC Score 0-1 These HRGs are common groupings of the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) codes used to count the number of finished admission episodes with a primary or secondary diagnosis of liver disease or liver related disease. They also include other ICD-10 codes.

Epilepsy: Nurses

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many specialist epilepsy nurses are employed in the NHS.

Ben Gummer: The Health and Social Care Information Centre provides information on the number of nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed in the National Health Service in England but it does not separately identify specialist epilepsy nurses. It is for local NHS organisations with their knowledge of the healthcare needs of their local population to invest in training for specialist skills and to deploy specialist nurses.

Epilepsy: Diagnosis

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in each parliamentary constituency have been diagnosed with epilepsy; and what the average time taken was for someone to receive a diagnosis of epilepsy in the last 12 months.

Jane Ellison: Information concerning the number of people diagnosed with epilepsy in each parliamentary constituency and waiting times for diagnosis is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) best practice guideline The diagnosis and management of the epilepsies in adults and children in primary and secondary care, updated in 2012, estimates that epilepsy affects between 362,000 and 415,000 people in England. The guidance states that people having a first seizure should be seen by a specialist as soon as possible in order to ensure precise and early diagnosis and initiation of treatment. NICE recommends that referrals should be urgent, with patients being seen within two weeks if possible.

Neurology

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who will take on the responsibilities of the national clinical director of adult neurology if that role is not reappointed.

Jane Ellison: Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has undertaken a review of the National Clinical Director (NCD) resource designed to focus clinical advisory resources on areas where major programmes of work are currently being taking forward, or areas identified as priorities for improvement. As a result of the review, NHS England has proposed to change the way in which clinical advice is received in speciality areas in the future.Where there will no longer be a specific NCD role, NHS England will secure expert clinical advice from its clinical networks and through its relationships with professional bodies and by appointing clinical advisors. For neurology it is planned that access to advice will be through clinical leads and members of the NHS England-funded neurology clinical networks, the Neurology Clinical Reference Group and Royal Colleges. It is expected that these new arrangements will be in place from 1 April 2016.

Pharmacy: Closures

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has held with pharmacy patients on the closure of community pharmacies.

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of proposals for changes to Government policy on community pharmacies.

Alistair Burt: Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population. The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public. Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. A consequence may be the closure of some pharmacies but that is not our aim. We are not able to assess which pharmacies may close or the number of people who may lose their jobs, because we do not know the financial viability of individual businesses or the extent to which they derive income from services commissioned locally by the NHS or local authorities or have non-NHS related income. We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee and others, including patient and public representatives on our proposals. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

Folic Acid: Females

Mrs Flick Drummond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the serum folate levels in women of child-bearing age were in the latest results of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey; and how that figure compares to the World Health Organisation thresholds.

Jane Ellison: Results from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), published in March 2015, show that the mean serum folate level in women of child bearing age (16-49 years) was 20nmol/l. Approximately 16.5% of women in this age group fell below the published World Health Organization threshold for biochemical folate deficiency however, as a result of methodological difficulties the threshold needs to be adjusted to be comparable with the laboratory method used to measure folate in NDNS. The adjusted threshold will be higher than the published threshold and so the percentage of women with serum folate levels below the adjusted threshold is expected to be higher than the published value. A note setting out these points was published on 17 February 2016, alongside the NDNS report.

Folic Acid

Mrs Flick Drummond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the number of women of child-bearing age taking folic acid supplements over the last five years.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England has not made an assessment of the impact of trends in folic acid supplement use in recent years. We continue to encourage women to take a folic acid supplement from before they are pregnant to the 12th week of pregnancy, and include this in all appropriate public health messaging.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: Surveys

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons no data is available for Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in the 2015 NHS staff survey results.

Ben Gummer: We are informed that data for Guys and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust 2015 Staff Survey are available via the following weblink: http://www.nhsstaffsurveys.com/Page/1049/Latest-Results/Combined-Acute-and-Community-Trusts/ We understand that the trust also published a news story about the results on the following website: http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/news-and-events/2016-news/february/20160223-trust-comes-top-staff-engagement.aspx

Health Services: West Midlands

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications to the Healthy New Towns programme were made by organisations based in the West Midlands.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not hold information on the applications to the Healthy New Towns programme.

Hospitals: North West

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which hospitals in Merseyside and Cheshire carry out planned surgical procedures at weekends.

Jane Ellison: The information is shown in the table below. An elective procedure is a non-urgent procedure that is planned in advance, not all elective procedures are surgical.  The following National Health Service and independent sector hospitals in Merseyside and Cheshire1 reported elective procedures at weekends. ProviderAintree University Hospital NHS Foundation TrustAlder Hey Children's NHS Foundation TrustBMI - The South Cheshire Private HospitalCountess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation TrustEast Cheshire NHS TrustFairfield HospitalLiverpool Community Health NHS TrustLiverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation TrustLiverpool Women's NHS Foundation TrustMid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNuffield Health, The Grosvenor Hospital, ChesterRoyal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS TrustSouthport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS TrustSpire Cheshire HospitalSpire Liverpool HospitalSpire Murrayfield HospitalSpire Regency HospitalSt Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS TrustThe Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation TrustThe Walton Centre NHS Foundation TrustWarrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustWirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation TrustWrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre Notes: Merseyside and Cheshire has been interpreted as two Area Teams. This indicates the area team within which the organisation providing treatment was located. This data is limited to providers in the area teams:Q44 - Cheshire, Warrington and the Wirral Area TeamQ48 - Merseyside Area Team

Agency Nurses: North West

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many agency nurses were employed by each hospital trust in Merseyside and Cheshire in each year since 2010.

Ben Gummer: The Department does not collect this data centrally.

Eyesight

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with (a) dry eye syndrome and (b) watering eyes in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: Information is not available on the number of people diagnosed and treated in primary care with dry eye syndrome or watering eyes. It is also not possible to identify those treated in secondary care for dry eye syndrome specifically. The table below, provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, shows the number of Finished Admission Episodes where there was a primary diagnosis of watering eyes in England for the years 2010/11 – 2014/15.  Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sectorFinished Admission Episodes2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-154,44314,3984,4234,4954,3341 These are not counts of people as the same person may have had more than one episode of care within the given time period.

Meningitis: Vaccination

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation plans to start its review on the use of Bexsero meningococcal B vaccine in the UK.

Jane Ellison: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) finalised its recommendations on the routine use of the meningococcal B vaccine Bexsero® at a meeting in February 2014. The JCVI published a final position statement on Meningococcal B vaccination in March 2014, which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/294245/JCVI_Statement_on_MenB.pdf. The Meningococcal B vaccination was introduced from 1 September 2015 for those babies who are due to receive their primary immunisations starting at two months of age on or after 1 September 2015 (i.e. those born on or after 1 July 2015), with a one-off catch-up programme for those infants born from 1 May 2015 to 30 June 2015. The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review and considers new evidence as it becomes available. The JCVI most recently received an update on the meningococcal B vaccination programme at the February 2016 meeting of the Committee, however, at this stage it is too early to fully assess the impact of the programme. The minutes of the February JCVI meeting will be published on March 16 2016.

Health Professions: Overseas Workers

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) nurses, (b) doctors and (c) allied health professionals practised overseas after qualifying from a UK institution in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15; and how many of those professionals (i) hold British passports and (ii) were classified as overseas students when studying in the UK.

Ben Gummer: The information is not held by the Department.

Prescriptions: Learning Disability

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prescriptions for mental health medications were dispensed to people with learning disabilities in (a) England and (b) each NHS England region in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) young people moving from CAMHS to adult services are supported and (b) there is a comprehensive transition plan for each such person.

Alistair Burt: The ambitious national programme of work as set out in Future in mind will see a system-wide transformation in children and young people’s mental health. This is specified in the Government’s Mandate to NHS England. In taking this forward, NHS England has asked all clinical commissioning groups, working closely with their partners, to develop Local Transformation Plans to transform their local offer for mental health and wellbeing services for children and young people. These Plans must address the full spectrum of mental health: from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services, including moving from children to adult mental health services. It is the responsibility of local providers to ensure an appropriate transition plan is in place for each individual that requires one. In 2015, NHS England published a non-mandatory service specification for transitions from child and adolescent mental health services. The aim of this sample specification is to support commissioners responsible for funding transitional services for adolescents with mental health problems. A copy of the guidance can be found at the following webpage: www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/mod-transt-camhs-spec.pdf

General Practitioners: Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all GPs are trained in awareness of learning disabilities.

Ben Gummer: It is the responsibility of the General Medical Council (GMC) to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified general practitioners are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training in awareness of learning disabilities. Higher Education Institutions are responsible for ensuring the programmes they provide allow healthcare students to meet the outcomes set out by the GMC upon graduation. The royal colleges, for example the Royal College of General Practitioners, also have responsibility for developing curricula for general practitioners, in particular postgraduate curricula. Health Education England (HEE) works with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients. HEE is undertaking a review of curricula of all National Health Service commissioned training programmes to include recognised areas of health including learning disability, mental illness, physical illness and physical ill health and social support needs. HEE will work with regulatory bodies including the GMC to agree the standards and content for education and training; this is anticipated to be completed by April 2017.

Hospitals: Learning Disability

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people with learning disabilities who remained in long-stay hospitals for over 12 months in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: The information requested is only available from 2013. The following table shows the number of patients with learning disabilities by length of stay with their current healthcare provider on 30 September 2013, 2014 and 2015. Date30 September 201330 September 201430 September 2015Length of stay over one year1,9491,9201,810

General Practitioners

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average number of patients registered at each GP surgery was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The table below illustrates the average number of patients per practice over the last five years for which data is available:  20102011201220132014Average practice list size6,6106,6516,8917,0347,171 Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre – General and Personal Medical Services 2004-2014 March 2015 http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB16934/nhs-staf-2004-2014-gene-prac-rep.pdf

West Cumberland Hospital

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason the Phase 2 redevelopment of West Cumberland Hospital, Cumbria has been delayed.

Ben Gummer: This is a matter for the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust. The Trust provided an update on progress in relation to delivery of Phase 2 of the re-development of West Cumberland Hospital in a press release issued in June 2015. http://www.ncuh.nhs.uk/news/2015/june/trust-planning-next-phase-of-west-cumberland-hospital-redevelopment.aspx The NHS Trust Development Authority advises that the trust is continuing work to identify options that will enable it to progress this phase of the development.

Mental Health Services: Hearing Impairment

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that psychological therapies are available to deaf people.

Alistair Burt: It is the responsibility of local providers and commissioners to make the reasonable adjustments required by the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people. In order to reduce unacceptable variation in the provision of accessible information and communication support to disabled people, including adult sign readers, NHS England published a statutory accessible information standard. The standard sets out that all organisations providing NHS services must take steps to ensure that people receive information that they can access and understand, and receive communication support if they need it. Organisations must comply in full with the standard by 31 July 2016. Many local authorities provide interpreters within talking therapy settings.   There is ongoing activity by NHS England and the Department to encourage access to Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) services by the under-represented groups. Over the last spending review we invested over £400 million into the IAPT programme to ensure access to talking therapies for those who need them. The Prime Minister recently announced £1 billion to start a revolution in mental health. NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce reported in February 2016, setting out transformative plans using that additional funding, including for IAPT. Additional funding will enable NHS England to put in place a five year plan to improve IAPT services across the country, increasing access to evidence-based psychological therapies to reach 25% of need, and helping 600,000 more people to access care each year by 2020 with a focus on people living with long-term physical health conditions.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27614, where the additional funding for children and young people's mental health services in 2015-16 that was not allocated to clinical commissioning groups has been allocated; how such funding will be spent; and in what ways such funding has been spent to date.

Alistair Burt: An ambitious national programme of work is in place to support local transformation. Pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27614 the remaining £68 million is being spent centrally this financial year across the course of this Parliament on workforce and system development to deliver the following: ― expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme;― improvements to perinatal mental health care;― investment, centrally in inpatient services for children and young people;― building workforce capability; and― supporting innovation and development of online support.

European Health Insurance Cards

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the UK was paid under the European Health Insurance Card scheme for the treatment of UK-registered patients in European Economic Area countries in each of the last five years.

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many UK-registered patients received treatment in other European Economic Area countries under the European Health Insurance Card scheme in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: The United Kingdom European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) means that people living in the UK are able to travel to the European Economic Area (EEA) safe in the knowledge that they will be able to receive free or reduced cost healthcare should they need it.EEA countries reimburse the UK for the cost of the National Health Service providing treatment to EEA EHIC holders, just as the UK reimburses other EEA countries for the cost of them providing healthcare to UK EHIC holders. The Department does not hold information on how many people have used their UK EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in another EEA country in any 12 month period. This is because data on UK EHIC usage is recorded by individual treatment episode rather than the card holder.

Prisoners' Release: Drugs

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations his Department has received on the practice of retoxification prior to their release of prisoners who have a history of drug addictions.

Ben Gummer: No representations have been made to the Department in respect of the retoxification of prisoners with a history of drug addiction prior to their release.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Sunday Trading: Working Hours

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies on shop workers' rights to opt out of Sunday working of the findings of a recent USDAW survey on the number of shop workers who (a) feel under pressure to work longer hours on a Sunday and (b) want to work fewer hours on a Sunday.

Anna Soubry: In formulating its final proposals, the Government has carefully considered all the evidence submitted during the consultation process. A number of respondents expressed concern that extended opening hours could increase pressure on shop workers to work longer hours on Sundays. We therefore propose to enable shop workers to opt out of working additional hours on Sundays, to shorten the notice period for shop workers at large shops who wish to opt out of Sunday working altogether, and to strengthen and clarify the duty on employers to notify shop workers of their opt-out rights.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Meetings

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with (i) arms manufacturers, (ii) tobacco manufacturers and (iii) representatives of the Israeli embassy since the period covered in the Cabinet Office's most recent ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings data release.

Joseph Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 26 February 2016 by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office to Question 27634.

Apprentices: Taxation

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the apprenticeship levy on the training requirements of small and medium-sized firms unable to access the levy.

Nick Boles: When the apprenticeships levy is introduced in April 2017, small and medium sized employers will continue to have access to government funding to support apprenticeships. We will provide further details on the support available later this year.

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 27077, on arms trade: Saudi Arabia, what representations he has received on that legal advice.

Anna Soubry: No representations have been received on the legal advice commissioned by Amnesty International and Saferworld.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: Tribunals

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether it is planned that tribunal hearings convened under the Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will sit in public; and what Government policy is on public sittings for ISDS tribunals.

Anna Soubry: The negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are ongoing and the question of investment protection provisions in the agreement is still under consideration. The European Commission has however published its proposal for investment protections in TTIP. This builds on the reforms already introduced in the EU-Canada and EU-Singapore trade and investment agreements, including that arbitral tribunal hearings will typically be open to the public.

Apprentices: British Nationality

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of apprenticeships created in 2015 were taken up by British citizens.

Nick Boles: The Department collects self-reported data on the ethnicity of apprentices, but not nationality. Skills Funding Agency funding can only be used for apprentices whose main employment or normal place of work is in England. In addition employers are responsible for checking that their apprentices have the right to work in the UK.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: NHS

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the legal opinion by Michael Bowsher QC and Azeem Suterwalla on the potential effect of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: We have recently been provided with legal advice commissioned by Unite the Union and are considering the points raised by it.Over several decades the UK and EU have signed numerous trade agreements. These treaties have helped both UK and EU businesses grow and create high quality jobs. They have also ensured that it remains for the UK to decide how our public services are run.The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be no different. Decisions on how to deliver public services for the best outcomes for UK citizens are and will be made by UK governments, not our trade partners. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, the European Commission and the US Government have all confirmed this. The NHS is not at risk from TTIP or any other trade and investment agreement.

Apprentices: Greater London

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many new apprenticeships were created in East London in 2015.

Nick Boles: Information on the number of Apprenticeship starts by region, Local Authority and Parliamentary constituency is published as a supplementary table (first link) to a Statistical First release (second link). Latest published data includes Apprenticeship starts reported to date for August to October 2015. Data up to and including January 2016 will be published at the same link following publication of the next Statistical First Release on 23rd March 2016.https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493777/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xlshttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: NHS

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what legal advice the Government has sought on the potential effect of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on the NHS; what the cost was to the public purse of provision of such advice; and if he will publish the legal advice on this matter his Department has received.

Anna Soubry: Legal advice the Government has received in relation to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is subject to legal professional privilege and as such is not disclosable. This is a well-established principle which there is compelling public interest in upholding.It is essential for the effective conduct of the Government’s business that ministers are able to seek candid advice from their lawyers and to discuss and debate possible policy options fully. They are less likely to hold full and frank discussions with their legal advisers if there is an expectation that the advice will subsequently be disclosable.We do not maintain records of the total cost of the legal advice.

Companies: Human Rights

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department takes to monitor and assess allegations of human rights abuses by UK-listed companies.

Anna Soubry: Where allegations are made against companies (listed or otherwise) about breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, including the guidelines on human rights, these breaches are assessed by the UK’s National Contact Point in accordance with the framework set out in the Guidelines.

UK membership of EU: Referendums

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 2.41, The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom's special status in a reformed European Union, what input UK environmental and energy safety regulators will have into the annual survey of burdens imposed on business at EU level.

Anna Soubry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 02 March 2016 to Parliamentary Question UIN 28373.

Small Businesses: Productivity

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to provide advice and support to small and medium-sized enterprises to boost their productivity before the introduction of the national living wage.

Anna Soubry: Government is committed to providing an environment in which all businesses can manage the transition to the National Living Wage. To help with the transition we are cutting taxes and employer National Insurance contributions in total by over £3 billion a year through the Employment Allowance and Corporation Tax. SMEs will benefit from an ACAS produced online productivity tool designed to help organisations take simple steps to improve workplace relations, raise staff engagement and boost productivity. In addition, businesses can continue to benefit from a range of general support services including:Access to local support through Growth Hubs which join up local resources and are being rolled out across the country.The Business Support helpline and the’ My Business Support Tool’ on GOV.UK which help businesses find the support they need quickly.British Business Bank programmes which are supporting £2.4bn of finance to over 40,000 smaller businesses.

Sunday Trading: Public Consultation

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February to Question 28168, how many responses to the Government's consultation on devolving Sunday trading rules were opposed to devolving powers to extend trading hours on a Sunday to local areas.

Anna Soubry: The Department does not hold full data from this consultation on this specific question as a large portion of respondents chose to respond in their own words rather than addressing the consultation questions directly.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Pay

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department spent on salaries for (a) senior Civil Servants and (b) all other grades at (i) St Paul's Place, Sheffield and (ii) 1 Victoria Street, London in (A) 2014-15 and (B) 2015-16 to date.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Business: Billing

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that companies with more than 250 employees pay their suppliers in a timely manner.

Anna Soubry: The Government recognises that late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK and is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts. This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the private sector.The Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 legislated for a new reporting requirement on the UK’s largest companies and Regulations which will be introduced this year. This will compel larger companies to report on payment practices and performance. This information will be published on a six-monthly basis and will be made publicly available.Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to give general advice and to help small businesses resolve disputes relating to payment matters with larger businesses.Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK’s payment culture.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March to Question 28299, on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, if he will estimate the cost to his Department of each of the 12 rounds of negotiations; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Regional Planning and Development

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.

Anna Soubry: The Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Wales jointly hosted a roundtable in August to discussthese potential benefits. Ministerial and official engagement continues across Departments to capitalise on the opportunities for North Wales from the Northern Powerhouse.

Students: Fees and Charges

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will publish the full list of Equivalent or Lower Qualification exempt subjects announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Students: Loans

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Work and Pensions on the consequential effects of the introduction of maintenance loans for part-time students.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the (a) total number and (b) cost has been of (i) flights, (ii) rail journeys and (iii) taxi journeys taken by (A) ministers, (B) special advisers and (C) officials of his Department related to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiation process; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

Submarines

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK's submarine fleet is not detected by unmanned underwater vehicles deployed for anti-submarine warfare purposes.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence places a high priority on assuring the effectiveness of our submarine fleet and countering threats to our submarine operations. We continue to monitor and evaluate capabilities and technologies that could threaten submarines, including cyber and unmanned vehicles. It would not be appropriate to go into specific detail of the steps taken to mitigate against these threats. We assess, however, that the ocean will remain a complex and challenging environment in which to conduct large scale anti-submarine warfare, despite advancements in technologies. We are therefore confident that our submarine fleet remains safe and secure.

Air Force: Mental Health

Amanda Solloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the level of risk of developing mental health conditions among remote combat pilots; and what safeguards his Department has in place to protect such pilots from any such risk.

Mark Lancaster: The Government is committed to improving the mental health of our Armed Forces and has long recognised that Service life can cause stress. Support to personnel has improved in a number of ways, including providing pre and post-operational stress management training, a wide range of psychiatric and psychological treatments and initiatives such as Decompression, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) and Post Operational Stress Management.Trained TRiM providers are embedded in both - 13 Squadron and 39 Squadron, the Royal Air Forces's (RAF) frontline Reaper units based at RAF Waddington and Creech AFB.For Financial Year 2014-15, out of a total of approximately 180 personnel, there were fewer than five RAF personnel from 13 Squadron or 39 Squadron who were seen for an initial assessment at Ministry of Defence Specialist Mental Health Services. This is a lower rate than the military population as a whole.

Electronic Warfare

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many cyber experts and trainees have been recruited into the regular and reserve armed forces since 2011.

Penny Mordaunt: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 4 March 2015 to Question 225462 in respect of Cyber Reserves. We are significantly growing the number of dedicated Cyber experts in both the Regular and the Reserve forces but, as with other sensitive defence capabilities, we do not reveal specific details in order to safeguard national security.



Joint Cyber Reserve
(Word Document, 14.14 KB)

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has in place to provide accommodation for service personnel posted in Cyprus at short notice.

Mark Lancaster: British Forces Cyprus has available Service Family Accommodation and Single Living Accommodation that can be used for short notice posting of Service personnel. If the demand is in excess of that available at any one of the specific locations, temporary solutions would be adopted.

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus develop an emergency strategy for the supply of power and water to those Areas.

Mark Lancaster: The Sovereign Base Areas have contingency plans in place for the supply of water and power. The strategy for power is based on emergency back-up generators which support key facilities across the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) and the intention is to increase this capacity to other areas. The SBA Administration is also working with the Cypriot authorities develop a 20MW commercial photo-voltaic power plant in the Western SBA to be linked to the national grid. For water, the Ministry of Defence has its own dam in the Western SBA, providing three months' water supply and in the Eastern SBA obtains sufficient water capacity from reservoirs, boreholes and desalination plants.

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to upgrade the (a) welfare services and (b) leisure facilities at the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus; and what the timetable is for each such upgrade.

Mark Lancaster: Within the military areas of the Sovereign Base Areas there are a variety of welfare and leisure facilities provided as part of the overall estate, ranging from swimming pools to bars and shopping facilities. The continued development of the Cyprus estate is being planned as part of Project Apollo, which will seek to ensure a sustainable future estate over the next 10-15 years. For those deployed on Operation SHADER in Cyprus, a deployed welfare package is available and includes Wi-Fi, social areas, gymnasium equipment and pre-paid telephone calls home. Leisure facilities are delivered as part of Soft Facilities Management contract with Sodexho, who in concert with the Ministry of Defence, provides many of the outlets for personnel to relax when off duty.

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to ensure that military personnel based in Cyprus have the cost of flights for them and their family to return to the UK on leave fully covered by the allowances provided, even at peak travel times.

Mark Lancaster: The Get You Home (Overseas) allowance enables eligible Service personnel and any spouse, civil partner or dependent children to return to the UK by assisting towards the costs of return journeys to the UK or, in the case of non-British passport holders, to their country of domicile. Get You Home (Overseas) is calculated by the Ministry of Defence based upon an average of economy class airfares obtained from Expedia three times per year - summer, Christmas and Easter. The flight route used is from the overseas location to the UK and prices are sourced from the internet one month prior to the date selected as the date of travel. The current rate for Cyprus is £337 per person. Analysis by British Forces Cyprus for the peak summer period indicates that the allowance fully covers the cost of a routine economy flight.

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve spousal employment for service personnel posted in Cyprus.

Mark Lancaster: There are a limited number of employment opportunities for family members of deployed personnel within British Forces Cyprus (BFC). Spousal employment is restricted by the 1960 Treaty of Establishment between the UK and the Republic of Cyprus (RoC), which states that service organisations shall, 'so far as is practicable, employ only Cypriot staff'. To help mitigate this restriction, the Partner Employment Programme (PEP) under the New Employment Model (NEM) facilitates courses and training to assist with employability on return to the UK. BFC is also facilitating Business Start-up courses run by Wolverhampton University. There are no restrictions on spouses seeking employment in the RoC; by way of an example it is known that some spouses are employed locally in international schools.

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to upgrade the housing stock in Cyprus for service personnel and their families; and when such work will be completed.

Mark Lancaster: The upgrading and refurbishment of the housing stock in Cyprus is a continuous process. This financial year, the Ministry of Defence has invested £4.4 million on upgrades of Service Families Accommodation (SFA) in Cyprus and this investment will continue in 2016-17. The Defence Capital Infrastructure Programme includes a further £28 million project to refurbish SFA in Cyprus from 2019-2025.

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the government of Cyprus on ensuring that wild migratory birds are not netted on the Sovereign Base Areas or any other land used by his Department in Cyprus.

Mark Lancaster: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence, (Michael Fallon) has had no direct discussions with the Government of the Republic of Cyprus on this subject, but the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) Administration has regular meetings on this issue with the relevant authorities in the Republic of Cyprus and relevant Non-Government Organisations to exchange and share information. The SBAs in Cyprus are covered by the Bern convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats and adhere to its provisions. The SBA Police have for a number of years put considerable effort into anti-poaching measures, and recently there has been an especially robust campaign through enhanced enforcement and the removal of non-native invasive acacia trees that are deliberately cultivated by trappers to attract birds. The SBA Police also work in close co-operation with the Cyprus Game and Fauna Service and the SBA Administration intends to continue to work with the Republic of Cyprus to bring an end to this unpleasant and outlawed practice.

Armed Forces: Credit Unions and Help to Buy Scheme

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of (a) credit unions and (b) the help to buy scheme by armed forces personnel.

Mark Lancaster: In October 2015, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) launched a facility to make Credit Union services available to UK Armed Forces personnel via payroll deductions. The launch was communicated through the MOD intranet and gov.uk website, and also cascaded to the single Service welfare and internal communications leads.Three chosen Credit Unions are now working together collectively under the banner 'Joining Forces' to provide Service personnel with access to dependable savings facilities and safe affordable loans. Further details are available from their website: http://joiningforcescu.co.uk/Joining Forces have an employee who works solely on behalf of the collective to deliver presentations and information packages to personnel on military bases. They are also examining various strategies to promote their services through Armed Forces publications and engagement with the Families Federations.Work is currently under way to enable veterans who are in receipt of an Armed Forces pension to access the services provided by Joining Forces. It is expected that this facility will go live later this year.Take-up of the £200 million Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) scheme has been very encouraging. The scheme has already given £93.7 million to help over 6,100 Service personnel buy or extend their homes. While there is no advertising budget for FHTB, the success stories of the scheme continue to be communicated through routine internal channels, as well as MOD social media where appropriate. These examples are cascaded via the individual Service networks to raise awareness of the scheme and to inform Service personnel of the support available to them.

Cyprus: Military Bases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to repair the broken fuel storage tanks at Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area in Cyprus.

Mark Lancaster: A programme is currently in progress to repair or replace the three broken bulk fuel installations at RAF Akrotiri. It is anticipated that all installations will be back in use in summer 2016.An interim solution is currently in place; the repair or replacement work has had no impact on the unit's operational output.

Ministry of Defence: Capita

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what value of performance payments his Department has withheld from Capita since March 2012 as a result of it not meeting the recruitment targets required by the Recruitment Partnership Programme contract.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in which months since March 2012 his Department has withheld performance payments from Capita as a result of it not meeting the recruitment targets required by the Recruitment Partnership Programme contract.

Mr Julian Brazier: I am witholding the information as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Ministry of Defence: Security Guards

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26688, how much his Department spent in contracts on commercial civilian guarding in each of the last six years.

Mark Lancaster: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Trident Submarines

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2016 to Question 28346, on Trident submarines, what the agreed limits of liability are.

Mr Philip Dunne: The agreed limit of liability is £1.4 billion.

Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the timetable is for completion of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation Footprint; and what alternative uses his Department has recently considered suitable for RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

Mark Lancaster: The RAF envisages no further use for RAF Linton-on-Ouse following the out of service date of the Tucano aircraft which is anticipated to be October 2019.Further announcements regarding the rationalisation of the Defence estate will be made later this year.

Trident Submarines

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of whether additional investment to that already announced will be required during the stage 2 design process for the Successor programme.

Mr Philip Dunne: As I announced on 3 March 2016 (Official Report, columns 45-46WS) we are investing a further £642 million in the design phase of the Successor submarine. This is part of the staged investment approach announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review.



Successor Submarine Assessment Phase
(Word Document, 23.32 KB)

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of new contracts placed by his Department's core departments during 2014-15 were with UK suppliers.

Mr Philip Dunne: In 2014-15, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) placed 2,128 new contracts; a breakdown of whether these were with UK or overseas suppliers is not held centrally.The MOD does, however, routinely publish statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK. For 2013-14, this figure is £19.5 billion. The estimate for 2014-15 will be available in due course.

World War II: Clydebank

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department holds information or documents on the Clydebank Blitz of March 1941.

Mark Lancaster: A search of the MOD archive has not identified any records on the Clydebank Blitz of March 1941; surviving documentation of that age is held at the National Archives at Kew.

Cyprus: Military Bases

George Kerevan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the 2003 Memorandum of Understanding between Cyprus and the UK on implementation of the Protocol on the Sovereign Base of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus in so far as it concerns illegal migrants and asylum seekers on where responsibility for refugees who enter those bases rests.

George Kerevan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the UNHCR statement of 21 October 2015 on UK responsibility for asylum seekers arriving directly on to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.

Penny Mordaunt: No assessments have been made.Under the 2003 Memorandum of Understanding, Republic of Cyprus asylum officials assess asylum claims of migrants arriving directly into the Sovereign Base Areas. If they are granted asylum, they will have the same rights as those granted refugee status in the Republic of Cyprus. These collaborative arrangements between the UK and the Republic of Cyprus on the handling and processing of the migrants are being applied to those who arrived in the Sovereign Base Areas in October 2015 and the process is working well.

Cyprus: Military Bases

George Kerevan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what representations he has received on the applicability of the 1951 Refugee Convention to the migrants who arrived in the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus in 1998.

Penny Mordaunt: The 1951 Refugee Convention places no obligation on the UK to consider asylum claims made outside its immediate territory. The Sovereign Base Area is an overseas territory and separate by legal jurisdiction to the UK. The Convention has not been extended to the Sovereign Base Areas. Representations challenging the applicability of the 1951 Refugee Convention are currently being made to the High Court on behalf of a group of refugees who have been resident in the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus since 1998.

Cyprus: Immigration

George Kerevan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24080, on immigration: Cyprus, to which third countries representations have been made on accepting the remaining migrants.

Penny Mordaunt: No representations have been made to third countries, but the Sovereign Base Areas Administration will continue to support those migrants whose claims for asylum have not been accepted, including where legitimate to do so, assistance to move to third countries.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Communities and Local Government: Domestic Visits

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what official domestic visits he has made since May 2015; and what the purpose of each such visit was.

Greg Clark: Holding answer received on 01 March 2016



I have carried out a wide range of domestic visits since May 2015. Transparency data is recorded on the Department's website.

Mayors: Tower Hamlets

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the decisions of the Electoral Court's ruling on the 2014 mayoral election in Tower Hamlets.

Mr Marcus Jones: My rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Greg Clark) meets with my rt. hon. Friend, the Home Secretary (Theresa May) on a regular basis to discuss a range of government matters.

Fraud: Tower Hamlets

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made by the Commissioners appointed by his Department to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets of the level of fraud in that borough.

Mr Marcus Jones: My rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Greg Clark) has received no formal assessment from the Tower Hamlets Commissioners regarding the level of fraud in the borough. The Secretary of State is aware that the Commissioners have contributed both written and oral evidence to my rt. hon. Friend, the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Sir Eric Pickles’) review on electoral fraud.

Elections: Tower Hamlets

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to decide on whether to support prosecutions for people suspected of committing electoral or financial fraud in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets; and when he plans to announce that decision.

Mr Marcus Jones: Decisions on whether to charge or to prosecute individuals suspected of electoral and financial fraud in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are matters for the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Domestic Violence: Victim Support Schemes

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 2.112 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how much of the planned £40 million spending for services for victims of domestic abuse he plans will be spent in each of the next four years; and in each such year what programmes or policies that spending is planned to support.

Mr Marcus Jones: Holding answer received on 04 March 2016



Details of how the £40 million fund will be used to support victims of domestic abuse will be announced shortly.

Members: Correspondence

Mr David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the letter of 17 February 2016 from the hon. Member for Walsall North on local government expenditure in the Walsall borough.

Mr Marcus Jones: DCLG has not received a letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North dated 17 February 2016.

Local Government

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of UK membership of the EU on each policy area and function of local authorities.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Local Government

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of UK withdrawal from the EU on each policy area and function of local authorities.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: UK Membership of EU

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

David Mundell: At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Economic Situation: Dundee

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, Uneven Growth: Tackling City Decline, published in February 2016, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of that report in Dundee.

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, Uneven Growth: Tackling City Decline, published in February 2016, what steps he plans to take to address the findings of that report on the relative decline of Dundee.

David Mundell: I refer the hon Gentleman to my answer of 4 March 2016.

Department for Transport

Cycling and Walking: Finance

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's timeline on its cycling and walking investment strategy, published in December 2015, what progress it has made on its obligation of being ready to announce its funding plans for investment in cycling and walking by the end of winter 2015-16.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Infrastructure Act 2015 does not place an obligation on Government to publish plans for investing in cycling and walking at any specific time. However, in December my Department published “Setting the first Cycling and Walking Strategy” which set out our proposed timescales for publication, including our intention to publish a Statement of Funds Available. My officials are currently working on the first Strategy, to be published in draft in spring 2016, which will contain information on financial resources as well as our ambition, objectives and actions for delivery.

Department for Transport: UK Membership of EU

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

Mr Robert Goodwill: At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Parking Offences: Appeals

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who were charged to appeal against a parking ticket in each of the last three years.

Andrew Jones: Parking is a devolved matter and policy in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the respective Government. Information on parking penalties in England is not held centrally. Records of the number of penalty charge notices issued are contained in annual reports from the traffic adjudicators – London Tribunals covers London Councils and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal reports on authorities outside London.

Department for Transport: Regional Planning and Development

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.

Andrew Jones: Ministers at the Department for Transport have regular contact with our Welsh Government counterparts which cover a range of transport issues affecting Wales. Transport for the North have also agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Welsh Government that sets out how they will work together to improve transport cross-border transport links, which will help to stimulate the economy of the whole of the UK.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research his Department has commissioned on the effect of a drone strike on a commercial aircraft.

Mr Robert Goodwill: I refer the Honourable Member to my answer given on 4 March UIN 29156 (http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=QuestionsWithAnswersOnly&house=commons%2clords&uin=29156).

Railways: Tickets

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2016 to Question 28078, what plans his Department has for spending the remaining £40.89 million that was allocated to the South East Flexible Ticketing programme.

Claire Perry: The Government is fully committed to modernising rail ticketing and to honouring the contractual commitments made under the South East Flexible Ticketing programme. Beyond that we are working with industry to find the best way to deliver smart ticket solutions that meet customers’ needs and take advantage of technological improvements, so ensuring that everyone is benefitting from 21st century ticketing.

Cycling: Training

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent per pupil on cycling training for primary school pupils in each year since 2009-10.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government has been funding Bikeability cycle training in schools since 2006/07. Bikeability training is delivered to children between school years 5-9 (ages 9-14). Funding is provided at a rate of £40 per child training place.

Department for Transport: Ministerial Policy Advisers

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 28720, whether the number of special advisers employed in his Department has changed since the list referred to in that Answer was published.

Mr Robert Goodwill: An update will be issued in the usual way in due course by the Cabinet Office.

Roads: East of England

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's most recent estimate or calculation is of the cost of each of the road projects described in the Government's press release, Major Roads Investment in the east of England, published on 1 December 2014.

Andrew Jones: These projects are at various levels of maturity. Schemes which are now open to traffic and schemes in development/construction are shown below, with the actual out-turn cost and latest estimate respectively: Scheme NameEstimated Cost (£m)Source of EstimateA14 Cambridge to Huntingdon1,249 to 1,848In developmentA5-M1 link road162.1Under constructionA11 Fiveways to Thetford104.7Scheme complete For the remaining schemes outlined in the 1 December 2014 announcement, the current costs are the cost category as quoted in the RIS Investment Plan, which can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/381496/roads-investment-strategy-summary-of-schemes.pdf There is currently no cost information for the Strategic Studies as they are in the very early stages of investigating options.

Highways England: Capital Investment

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made any additional capital funding available to Highways England since the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Andrew Jones: My Department has not agreed any additional capital funding for Highways England for the spending review 2015, beyond that announced in the Autumn Statement 2015. The Autumn Statement confirmed the level of capital funding across the spending review period for Highways England as set out in the Road Investment Strategy, which triples investment in our strategic road network. SR15 also confirmed that Highways England will receive an additional £230m to deliver Operation Stack.

Motorways

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many miles on what sections of the motorway network have been converted to Managed Motorways-All Lane Running (MM-ALR) status; and how many additional miles on which sections of the network Highways England plans to convert to MM-ALR by 2020.

Andrew Jones: The information requested is in the table below: All Lane Running Scheme - Open for TrafficScheme NameScheme Length (miles)Additional lane milesM25 J5-6/712.418.6M25 J23-2716.033.3M1 J39-426.713.0M6 J10a-139.619.0All Lane Running Schemes - To be added by 2020Scheme NameScheme Length (miles)Additional lane milesM1 J28-3118.938.5M1 J32-35a9.117.9M62 J18-205.19.0M3 J2-4a13.426.8M23 J8-1010.420.8M1 J24-255.210.4M6 J16-1918.236.4M5 J4a-68.817.6M60 J24-27 and J1-47.414.9M6 J21a-269.919.8M6 J2-411.823.6M20 J3-55.611.2

Railways: East of England

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce the award of the next East Anglia rail franchise.

Claire Perry: The announcement of the award of the East Anglia rail franchise is planned for June 2016.

Motor Vehicles: Licensing

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles late licensing penalties have been issued in each year since 2010.

Andrew Jones: The table below shows the number of late licensing penalties that have been issued in each calendar year since 2010: YearNumber of late licensing penalties issued2010665,2582011514,1062012568,2242013575,0322014478,1332015480,790

Halton Curve Railway Line

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on reopening the Halton Curve railway line.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Following its inclusion in the Liverpool City Region Growth Deal, Merseytravel is managing the development and delivery of this devolved scheme on behalf of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. I understand that the business case for the scheme is expected to be considered by the Combined Authority at its meeting in April. If approved, work is expected to begin in June 2017 and be complete by May 2018.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

UK Membership of EU

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the statement in the letter by the President of European Council on his proposal for a new settlement for the UK within the EU that the UK is not committed to further political integration, what mechanisms are included in that proposed agreement to prevent the UK being so committed without its consent.

Mr David Lidington: The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union, section C, paragraph 1, recognises that the United Kingdom is “not committed to further political integration into the European Union”. This will be incorporated into the Treaties at the time of their next revision “so as to make it clear that the references to ever closer union do not apply to the United Kingdom”.In addition, the Decision states that “the references in the Treaties and their preambles to the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe do not offer a legal basis for extending the scope of any provision of the Treaties or of EU secondary legislation. They should not be used either to support an extensive interpretation of the competences of the Union or of the powers of its institutions as set out in the Treaties. . . The Treaties allow an evolution towards a deeper degree of integration among the Member States that share such a vision of their common future, without this applying to other Member States.”More widely, the European Union Act 2011 ensures that if a change to the EU Treaties is proposed that would transfer a power from the UK to the EU, the consent of the British people in a referendum would be required before such a transfer could be agreed.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Publications

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many (a) publications, (b) consultation documents and (c) circulars his Department has issued since August 2012; and what the title was of each such publication, consultation document or circular.

Mr David Lidington: Over 3,500 Foreign and Commonwealth Office publications since 1 August 2012 are available on the gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publicationsMany of our Posts and Missions overseas publish documents that are relevant to their work. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold information on the full range of documents centrally and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

UK membership of EU

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the compliance of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 with Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington: The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 is not subject to the provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

UK membership of EU

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016, meets the definition of a treaty under Article 2 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

Mr David Lidington: The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016, meets the definition of a treaty under Article 2 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Decision was registered at the United Nations Treaty Office on 24 February 2016.

Saudi Arabia: Arms Trade

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will undertake an urgent and comprehensive review into British arms export licences to Saudi Arabia.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK Government is satisfied that export licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK's export licencing criteria. The Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. The Government routinely keeps factors relevant to the licensing of arms exports under active review, and Ministers are consulted in the event of any significant changes in the circumstances relating to UK-licensed exports to ensure that licences comply with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. Since the outset of the conflict in Yemen the Government has kept all extant licences and new licensing to Saudi Arabia under continuous review, and has exercised special caution and vigilance in granting new licences for exports to Saudi Arabia, handling each on a case-by-case basis. The conflict in Yemen is being monitored closely, and that monitoring is taken into account as part of the careful risk assessment for exports to Saudi Arabia.

Hungary: Immigration

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Hungarian government on the sale of residency bonds to non-EU citizens.

Mr David Lidington: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has had no discussions with the Hungarian government on this issue.

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

Richard  Arkless: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, who will be eligible to vote in the forthcoming EU referendum; and for what reason he plans to exclude European citizens resident in the UK from voting in that referendum.

Mr David Lidington: Holding answer received on 04 March 2016



The franchise for the EU referendum was debated and agreed by both Houses during the passing of the EU Referendum Act 2015. This has now received Royal Assent and is set in law.The franchise for the EU referendum includes those enfranchised for UK parliamentary elections, with the addition of Members of the House of Lords and Commonwealth and Irish citizens in Gibraltar.Amendments during the passage of the EU Referendum Bill, seeking to include EU citizens in the franchise for the EU referendum, were considered and overwhelmingly rejected by both Houses.

Middle East: Islamic State

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the total number of active Daesh fighters in (a) Iraq, (b) Libya and (c) Syria in each of the last 24 months; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The latest available US figures suggest that there are approximately 19,000 – 25,000 Daesh fighters in Iraq and Syria, compared to estimates of 20,000 – 31,000 fighters in 2014. Estimates for the number of Daesh fighters in Libya are between 3,000 – 6,000.

Andy Hall

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Thai government on the (a) charges facing and (b) return of the British passport belonging to Andy Hall.

Mr Hugo Swire: We have taken a number of actions to support Mr Hall. Most recently, the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Simon McDonald, raised his case with the Thai Vice Foreign Minister during his visit to Bangkok on 3 February. He emphasised the importance of proceedings against Mr Hall being conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner.We have requested the return of Mr Hall’s passport from the Thai courts. However, we have no jurisdiction to interfere in other countries’ judicial processes, which include a court’s ability to set its own bail conditions. We stand ready to provide further consular assistance should Mr Hall require it.

Colombia: Human Rights

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart on reports of threats and human rights violations by the Colombian army and police towards members of the Patriotic March.

Mr Hugo Swire: Our Embassy in Bogotá met members of the Patriotic March on 20 January 2016 to discuss concerns around these threats and human rights violations. They will continue to monitor the situation closely and will ensure reports of threats against members of the Patriotic March are raised with the Colombian Government.

Colombia: Peace Negotiations

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 22703, what assessment his Department has made of progress in discussions between the Colombian government and the FARC on end of conflict issues.

Mr Hugo Swire: Talks continue in Havana and both sides are working to meet the 23 March deadline. However, the priority is reaching a sustainable agreement, not the exact date.Alongside negotiations on the implementation of the peace deal, discussions on end of conflict issues are one of the two negotiating points that are still to be decided. We continue to support Colombia on this important issue.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Disease Control

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with the Department of Health on implementation of the Ross Fund.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Ross Fund is a new £1 billion fund that will be used to support the global fight against malaria and other infectious diseases. Programmes will be led by either the Department for International Development or the Department of Health. By bringing together the range of DFID and DH’s activity into the Ross Fund and ensuring coordination, we can maximise synergies and avoid duplication.The accountability and responsibility of delivering on the individual programmes within the Ross Fund is with the respective lead department. The teams in each department are working closely together to ensure there is a complementary approach. A cross-government senior officials group (including Department for International Development and Department of Health) is also meeting on a regular basis to provide strategic direction in global health, including for the Ross Fund.

Developing Countries: Infectious Diseases

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when investments pledged under the Ross Fund will be made available for research and development into infectious diseases.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Ross Fund is a new £1 billion fund that will be used to support the global fight against malaria and other infectious diseases.Programmes under the Ross Fund will be led by either the Department of Health or the Department for International Development. Details about the exact nature and timing of investments pledged under the Ross Fund are still under development.

Overseas Aid

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to stop the black market economy in aid allocations.

Mr Desmond Swayne: DFID’s work on the black market is primarily related to illicit markets and organised crime. We are building the evidence base on the linkages between organised crime, development and conflict, and exploring innovative integrated approaches to tackling organised crime in partnership with other government departments. Our work in this area is focused on building resilience and reducing vulnerabilities to organised crime, increasing transparency, and mitigating harm. Examples of our work related to organised crime include: The Work in Freedom programme, which helps prevent 100,000 women and girls from India, Bangladesh and Nepal from being trafficked;Tackling Corruption by Tackling Drug Trafficking in Ghana, which focuses on improving detection of drug smuggling by the Narcotic Control Board, and increasing criminal proceedings against those involved;The Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, managed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, supports projects that develop sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by illegal wildlife trade, strengthen law enforcement, and reduce demand for the products of the illegal wildlife trade;Working to tackle illicit finance in partnership with the Metropolitan and City of London Police, the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Kashmir: Overseas Aid

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what projects her Department sponsors in Kashmir; and how much her Department spent in Kashmir since May 2010.

Mr Desmond Swayne: Kashmir benefits from national programmes in Pakistan and India to promote economic growth and improve education and health services across each country.DFID does not routinely measure total expenditure directed to sub-national geographies outside our focal states or provinces. We focus our work on the states of India and provinces of Pakistan where we can have the largest impact and where the need is greatest. Currently, these areas do not include Kashmir.

Burundi: Bilateral Aid

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to reinstate a bilateral aid programme with Burundi.

Mr Nick Hurd: There are no plans for DFID to re-open the office in Burundi. Our bilateral programme in Burundi closed in 2012 following the 2010 Bilateral Aid Review. We continue to provide support to Burundi through Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), an independent agency promoting trade and regional economic integration given that this is central to Burundi’s growth and prosperity. We have provided £10 million for TMEA work in Burundi since 2012. We also support Centrally Managed Programmes working in Burundi, covering areas such as food security and livelihoods. In addition, we are providing significant humanitarian support to Burundian refugees in the region and will consider providing humanitarian support in Burundi should a humanitarian crisis materialise.

Department for International Development: Private Education

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 24 January 2013 to Question 139167, how many staff in her Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to her Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.

Mr Nick Hurd: The amount spent on Education Allowance by DFID and the number of HCS staff who have benefited from education continuity payments is provided in the table below.Year2012/132013/142014/15Total Number of Employees434146Employees in UK£32,165.55£8,178.80£9,337.45Employees Overseas£995,609.04£995,852.61£1,042,819.56Cost£1,027,774.59£1,004,031.41£1,052,157.01

Yazidis: Refugees

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Yazidi refugees have been relocated to the UK under the Vulnerable Person Resettlement Programme to date; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme is based on need; it prioritises the most vulnerable Syrian refugees who cannot be supported effectively in their region of origin. In order to protect the vulnerable refugees selected for resettlement in the UK, we do not release detailed information about arrivals. However, Syrian Yazidis can certainly qualify for resettlement under the scheme if they are assessed as coming under one of the seven UNHCR vulnerability criteria, such as women and girls at risk, survivors of violence and torture and those with physical and legal protection needs.

Nepal: Human Trafficking

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle child trafficking in Nepal; what assessment she has made of (a) the role of Childreach's Taught Not Trafficked and (b) other preventative education programmes in such work; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne: Our Work in Freedom programme tackles human trafficking and promotes safe migration in Nepal and across the region, providing community training, support to victims in destinations and helping to improve laws and policies. In 2015, the programme reached more than 54,000 people in Nepal, including about 40,000 women and children through door to door visits.Following the devastating earthquake last year, DFID Nepal supported work with the Nepal Police, Women and Children Service Directorate and Ministry of Women and Social Welfare to create women and children safe spaces, and stop trafficking of women and children. We also support wider work that contributes to helping children avoid the risk of being trafficked, including improving livelihoods, providing skills training and helping families to better withstand natural disasters.DFID is not currently engaged in work directly with Childreach.

Developing Countries: Congenital Abnormalities

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) financial and (b) other assistance her Department has contributed to international support for children with microcephaly and their families.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Department for International Development (DFID) has worked with the Department for Heath (who are leading the UK government’s response), Public Health England and the Foreign Commonwealth Office to help develop the UK strategy on Zika and support the World Health Organisation (WHO) galvanise an effective international response. There are four strands of this strategy which are: (a) galvanising effective leadership and international coordination; (b) ensuring a risk-based approach to identify priority regions/countries and likely impact of further spread; (c) shaping and contributing to country and regional responses and (d) playing a lead role in the international research response.DFID has programmes in a number of countries which will support the Zika response. To date, countries in currently affected regions of Latin America and the Caribbean have not made specific requests for financial and/or other assistance from us to support children with microcephaly. We will continue to carefully assess any requests, offer additional assistance where needed and adapt any existing programmes to the needs required. We have already committed £200,000 of bilateral aid in support of Haiti’s Ministry of Health community mobilisation activities. DFID and Wellcome Trust will contribute £10 million (DFID up to £5million) for Zika research. We will continue to monitor the situation closely, working with other government departments and WHO.

Syria: International Assistance

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much each country pledged at the Syria Donor Conference in February 2016; and how much such money has been (a) collected and (b) deployed for use in Syria and the surrounding region to date.

Mr Desmond Swayne: At the "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016" Conference on 4 February more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict. This is the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total more than £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.The international community pledged $5.9 billion for 2016 and a further $5.4 billion has been committed for 2017-20 to enable partners to plan ahead. Germany and the UK made the largest bilateral funding announcements at the London Conference - both for 2016 and outer years - followed by Norway, the United States and Japan. A full breakdown of funding announcements at the London Conference by country can be found on the Conference website: https://www.supportingsyria2016.com/news/co-hosts-statemtent-annex-fundraising/We are working closely with the United Nations to understand how the funding announced by the international community will be allocated across Syria and the region. The United Nations will track pledges made towards the 2016 UN-coordinated inter-agency appeals for Syria and the region, and we will work alongside the UN to ensure these pledges are disbursed quickly and maintain the momentum on fundraising over the longer-term. The UN financial tracking website can be found at https://fts.unocha.org/

India: Christianity

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make representations to the Indian government on the incidence of attacks on Christian property and families in parts of that country.

Mr Desmond Swayne: India’s Constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. The Indian government has a range of policies and programmes to support religious minorities. However, incidents of discrimination against minority communities in India, including Christians, do still occur.Officials at the British High Commission continue to discuss minority issues, including religious tolerance of Christians, with civil society, the Indian National Commission for Minorities, with Indian ministers and ministries, and with relevant State-level authorities.

Department for Education

Manufacturing Industries

Phil Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies on encouraging school leavers to consider careers in science and mathematics of the conclusion of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in its report, Engineered in Britain, published in December 2015, on the rate of change in the numbers of school leavers considering such careers.

Nick Gibb: The Government is determined to increase the number of young people studying science and mathematics This includes an ambition that by 2020 we want to see a 20% increase in A level entries by girls to these subjects. Since 2010, there have been 28,000 more science and mathematics A level entries.In order to attract the best and brightest into the teaching profession, we are offering bursaries and scholarships of up to £30,000 to attract top science and mathematics graduates into teaching. We are also investing up to £67 million to recruit 2,500 additional maths and physics teachers and upskill 15,000 existing non-specialist teachers over the lifetime of this parliament. We welcome the contribution that the Institution of Mechanical Engineers is making through its programme of two-week industrial placements which will give teachers a better understanding of the application of science and engineering in the real world.The Government is also taking action to ensure that young people are making well-informed choices about their future which include a good understanding of the value of science and mathematics subjects. Programmes such as STEM ambassadors and the Big Bang Fair are aimed at raising awareness of the range of careers that science and technical qualifications offer. The Government also supports the industry-led Your Life campaign which aims to transform perceptions of science and maths.We want to transform careers education and guidance so that all young people can access high quality support when they need it. The Government plans to publish a comprehensive careers strategy later this year to outline this government’s plans for improving careers provision by 2020. Over this parliament we are committing a total of £70 million to our strategy. As part of this, we will provide further funding for The Careers & Enterprise Company to embed and further extend its projects already underway, including the Enterprise Adviser Network, its Careers and Enterprise Fund, its research and wider activity to bring schools, colleges, business and careers and enterprise organisations closer together.

Children: Communication Skills

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many reception year children in Ashfield constituency reached the expected levels in speech and communication skills in each of the last three years.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many reception year children in Ashfield constituency who are classified as disadvantaged reached the expected levels in speech and communication skills in each of the last three years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The data requested is presented in the table attached.  The data requested is presented in the table below: Percentage of pupils achieving at least the expected level in communication and language in early years foundation stage profile teacher assessments by parliamentary constituency of pupil residenceYears: 2013 to 2015Coverage: Ashfield parliamentary constituencyYearFree School Meals (FSM)Number of eligible pupilsCommunication and Language%2015FSM23467all other pupils1,02084All pupils1,254812014FSM25470all other pupils94682All pupils1,200802013FSM28068all other pupils90980All pupils1,189781. Figures are based on final data.2. Only includes pupils with a valid result for every achievement scale.3. All English providers of state-funded early years education (including academies and free schools), private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sectors are within the scope of the EYFSP data collection. Data for any children in the PVI sector no longer in receipt of funding who were included in the return submitted by the LA to DfE will not be included in the figures.4. Only includes pupils who are resident in England.5. “All other pupils” includes pupils not eligible for free school meals and for whom free school meal eligibility was unclassified or could not be determined. 



Data 
(Excel SpreadSheet, 14.23 KB)

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Mr Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the per-pupil-funding is for primary and secondary schools in each local authority area in 2015-16.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The government distributes schools funding to local authorities on a per pupil basis, known as a schools block unit of funding (SBUF). The SBUF applies to all pupils in a local authority and does not vary according to school phase. The SBUFs of all local authorities for 2015-16 are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016 (see the document entitled ‘Dedicated Schools Grant 2015 to 2016: updated February 2016’ and the tab ‘2015-16 DSG allocations’). The SBUFs for 2016-17 have also been published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2016-to-2017The schools block unit of funding is multiplied by the total number of pupils to give each local authority their schools block. Local authorities, in consultation with their schools forums, devise local funding formulae to distribute the schools block to schools in their areas. Local authorities can vary their formulae according to school phase. These formulae are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-block-funding-formulae-2015-to-2016 (please see the document entitled ‘Local authority funding proforma data 2015 to 2016’ and the second tab).

Teachers: Training

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is on Work Coaches working in schools.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Government has pledged to introduce demand-led Jobcentre Plus staff to supplement careers guidance and help schools deliver their statutory duty to provide high-quality, independent and impartial careers advice.As part of the ‘Jobcentre Plus Support for Schools’ initiative introduced by the Department for Work and Pensions, local Jobcentre Plus advisors will work with schools to help offer 12 to 18 year old pupils insight into the world of work and advise on options such as traineeships and apprenticeships. This scheme is directed particularly at those students at risk of becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training) or who may otherwise be disadvantaged in the labour market.This support will be aligned with The Careers & Enterprise Company Enterprise Adviser Network (or other local structures) to avoid adding complexity to the careers landscape for schools and will be delivered initially as a pathfinder in 10 areas. This pathfinder phase started in Birmingham in January 2016.

Physical Education: GCSE

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with examination boards on the provision of ice skating as part of GCSE PE.

Nick Gibb: Following consultation (from July to September 2014), the Department published reformed content for physical education (PE) GCSE and A level in January 2015. The content includes a list of sports and activities in which students could be assessed as part of these qualifications. The sports and activities in which students may be assessed were proposed by awarding organisations (AOs). Ice skating was not included, as it was not considered to meet all of the criteria for inclusion set out in the PE activity list rationale, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447738/GCSE_activity_list_for_PE.pdf. Exclusion of ice skating from the list was not raised as an issue during the consultation. The inclusion or otherwise of an activity on the list does not represent a view on the legitimacy of the activity. The activity list will be reviewed at a later stage. Further details can be found in the Government response to the consultation (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcse-and-a-level-reform) and equality analysis (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-level-subject-content-equality-impact-assessment).

*No heading*

James Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reform special educational needs and disability provision.

Edward Timpson: The special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms which came into effect in September 2014 represent the biggest change to the SEND system in a generation. They are transforming the support available to children and young people with SEND by joining up services across education, health and social care and by focusing on positive outcomes for education, employment, housing, health and community participation. Since September 2014, our reforms have seen the introduction of:o published ‘local offers’ for each local area, setting out the SEND services that are available;o new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans for those with more complex needs - replacing statements of SEN and post-16 Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs);o a new legal requirement on local authorities to take the views of families fully into account when deciding what provision to offer;o new statutory protections for 16-25 year olds in further education - including the right to request the educational institution of their choice;o new duties for health to deliver the agreed health elements of EHC plans;o the option of a personal budget for families and young people with an EHC plan;o a review of disagreement resolution arrangements; ando new arrangements for supporting young offenders with SEND.

*No heading*

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the number of people under 19 completing apprenticeship programmes.

Nick Boles: In England, 71,100 apprenticeships were achieved by under 19 year olds in the 2014 to 2015 academic year. This is 5,700 more than in the 2013 to 2014 academic year and 10,300 more than in the 2012 to 2013 academic year.We supported over 600,000 apprenticeships starts for 16-18 year olds during the previous parliament.

*No heading*

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of teacher recruitment and retention in primary and secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: There are now more, better-qualified teachers in England's classrooms than ever before. We are attracting top graduates and career-changers with generous incentives, including tax-free bursaries worth up to £30,000 and the opportunity to earn a salary whilst training. This year, over 1,000 more postgraduate trainee teachers were recruited than in 2014/15. We exceeded our target for new primary teachers and finished ahead of last year in key secondary subjects such as maths and physics. Teacher retention rates have remained broadly stable for two decades. 72% of those who qualified in the 2009 calendar year and entered teaching by November 2009 were still teaching five years later. It is vital for schools to be able to retain good teachers. That is why we have made significant policy interventions in the areas that teachers tell us matter most, such as improving pupil behaviour and reducing unnecessary workload. We have appointed behaviour expert Tom Bennett to lead a review to ensure new teachers are fully trained in dealing with disruptive children and to consider all of the challenges of managing behaviour in schools. We have established three groups to address the biggest concerns that teachers raised in the workload challenge: marking, planning and data management. The groups will create principles for practice and make specific recommendations for action. All three groups are due to report to Ministers in 2016 and we are commissioning a biennial survey to track teacher workload, starting in the spring of 2016. We have also given schools the freedom to pay the best teachers more, recognising excellence and improving retention.

*No heading*

Mr Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on the provision of learning outside of the classroom.

Nick Gibb: Field trips and educational visits are important and have a key role to play in children’s education. It is for schools to use their professional judgement to decide how their activities deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and to plan lessons and use their budgets accordingly.

*No heading*

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government plans to take to meet demand for school places in Romford.

Nick Gibb: The Government is investing £23 billion in school buildings to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs. Havering local authority received £23 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create nearly 3,000 new places between 2010 and 2014. It has also been allocated a further £47 million to create the places needed by 2018.

*No heading*

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking in schools to help young people spot the signs of mental illness.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Good mental health and wellbeing is a key priority for this Department. Young people have told us they would like to have opportunities to support each other and help to do this effectively.We recently launched a suite of peer support activities, which include a call for evidence for stakeholders and children and young people and funding of up to £1.5m including a new digital innovation fund, to develop reliable, engaging and trusted advice online to help them understand both their own, and their friends mental health.We will also be working with a core steering group, and wider advisory group of sector experts, including headteachers, youth leaders and charities, to look at what works in peer support, and how young people can strengthen their own networks.

*No heading*

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that more classic literature is taught in schools.

Nick Gibb: All pupils in secondary schools should be encouraged to enjoy challenging titles and develop a confidence and ability to read the great classics of English and world literature. The Government is delighted that, following our call for action, Penguin is offering classroom sets of 100 classic books for the equivalent of £1 a copy. This will allow pupils to read a wide range of literature with the support of their teacher. I hope other publishers will follow, to make classic literature a feature of every classroom.

*No heading*

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve educational standards in Bradford.

Nick Gibb: This Government is committed to educational excellence everywhere. The new powers in the Education and Adoption Bill are designed to help raise standards in underperforming areas such as Bradford, ensuring all failing maintained schools become academies with strong sponsors, and coasting schools are challenged to improve.The Regional Schools Comissioner has already prioritised Bradford for the Northern Fund and brought two new sponsors into the area.We have also significantly expanded School Direct and Teach First, to ensure schools in Bradford have access to high-quality teachers. The new National Teaching Service, which will place outstanding teachers and middle leaders into schools which most need additional support to improve their teaching, will begin with a pilot later this year; Bradford will be one of the areas eligible to participate in this pilot.I recently had the pleasure of being able to see some of the excellent work that is already being done to raise standards in Bradford, when I visited the outstanding Beckfoot School in Bingley, where 46% of pupils achieve the E-Bacc combination of core academic GCSEs.

Leader of the House

Leader of the House of Commons: UK Membership of EU

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Office is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

Chris Grayling: On 19 February, the Prime Minister set out the Government's view on remaining in the European Union.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Telecommunications: Misrepresentation

Ben Howlett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to protect customers from the practice of telephone slamming.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Ofcom, as the independent telecommunications regulator, introduced rules in May 2005 to protect consumers against slamming. Its most recent rules, updated in June 2015, prohibits all telephone companies from engaging in dishonest, misleading or deceptive conduct, and oblige providers to ensure consumers fully understand and consent to a contract before it is agreed. Ofcom’s most recent complaints data shows that slamming complaints have reduced significantly to an average of 140 complaints per month, compared with an average of over 700 in 2010. Ofcom can take action if companies repeatedly breach these rules and has the power to fine companies up to 10% of their annual turnover and to require them to remedy any issues that have arisen, including repaying affected customers who have lost money. In addition, safeguards have been built into the landline/broadband switching process on the Openreach network that are designed to protect consumers from being slammed. Consumers are required to receive a letter informing them that a switch is scheduled and that there is a 10-day switchover period, during which the order can be stopped if a customer has been inadvertently signed up.

Leisure: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much has been spent to improve access to leisure and sports facilities in  Easington constituency in each of the last five years.

David Evennett: The Government's recently published 'Sport Strategy' (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sporting-future-a-new-strategy-for-an-active-nation ) provides a vision for future investment in sport, including increased funding for grass roots sports facilities. Sport England is now consulting on their own strategy to implement this. Sport England’s National Lottery investment, broken down by parliamentary constituency, is publicly available on Sport England’s website and can be found here: www.sportengland.org/funding/investments-weve-made.

Swimming: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to provide new swimming facilities in Easington constituency.

David Evennett: Sport England is currently supporting Durham County Council to conduct a review of its sports facilities strategy to ensure the provision of facilities for grassroots sports in the area, including swimming, can meet the needs of the local community.

Football

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has discussed with the Football Association the introduction of a fit-and-proper-person test for owners of non-league football clubs.

David Evennett: The Owners and Directors Test, formerly the fit and Proper Persons Test, is already applied to National League clubs at Steps 1 to 4. The FA are also in the process of introducing a licensing system for those clubs from 2016–17, which will ensure clubs can only compete if they meet a set of legal, ownership, integrity, stadia, insolvency and sustainability criteria. Any plans for a licensing system or the Owners and Directors Test to be introduced to non-league sides further down the football pyramid are a matter for the FA.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department will provide substantive Answers to Questions 25366 and 25426 submitted on 2 February 2016.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The PQs have now been answered.

Sports: Clubs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to introduce a scheme to provide financial assistance for the start up of grassroots sports clubs.

David Evennett: Within England, there are already a number of schemes in place to support the establishment of grassroots sports clubs. Sport England’s Small Grants programme makes awards of between £300 and £10,000 to support sports clubs, local projects, and other not-for-profit organisations who want to get more people playing sport. Sport England will support the establishment of grassroots sports clubs through Small Grants, providing the organisation is a formally constituted, not-for-profit organisation or statutory body in England. Sport England also provides advice and guidance to support the setup of new sports clubs through its funding helpline and its Club Matters resource. More information on devolved sport issues can be requested from the Devolved Administrations and their respective sports councils. For grassroots sport the respective sports councils for DAs are Sport Wales, sportscotland and Sport NI.

Sports: Young People

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to encourage teenage girls to be involved in sport and other physical activity.

David Evennett: There are a number of excellent initiatives to encourage teenage girls to get active such as Sport England's This Girl Can campaign, a nationwide campaign to get women and girls moving, regardless of shape, size and ability. It is already changing behaviours with 49% of women aged 14 to 40 who have seen the campaign reporting they had taken action as a result.Sport England has also invested over £2million in Bury for a pilot called ‘I Will if You Will’. The programme, on which they worked closely with the local council, combined marketing techniques with sports sessions and exercise classes designed to overcome the hurdles that stop women taking part. Us Girls, funded by Sport England, also exists to increase and sustain young women's participation in sport and physical activity in some of the nation’s most disadvantaged communities.Girls Active, funded by Sport England, in partnership with This Girl Can and Women in Sport is a scheme to encourage teenage girls to take part in PE and sport and the School Games offer children of all abilities the chance to take part in competitive sport. In 2014/15, 177,630 children took part at level 3 of the School Games (the county festivals) and 51% of these participants were girls.In December, DCMS published 'Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation', a new cross-departmental strategy for sport and physical activity. The strategy sets out government's vision for a successful and active sporting nation and emphasises the importance of helping people in under-represented groups, including women and girls, to get active.

Public Lending Right

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in extending the Public Lending Right scheme to e-lending (a) in local libraries and (b) at home.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Public Lending Right legislation was revised to extend the PLR scheme to include on-site lending of audio and e-books on 1 July 2014. My Department and the Libraries Taskforce are working closely with the Public Lending Right office and representative groups for libraries, publishers and authors to improve the availability of remote e-lending and to consider options to appropriately remunerate authors and other rights holders. These have been productive discussions and I look forward to progress continuing.

Football: Corruption

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will seek a meeting with the new President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, on reducing corruption in international football.

David Evennett: The government is committed to tackling corruption in sport. I have no plans to meet with Mr Infantino at this stage. I am, however, happy to work with all sports bodies, including international federations, to discuss reducing corruption and promoting good governance in sport.

Television: Licensing

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance his Department gives to TV Licensing on how it deals with people who do not own a television.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Within the legislative framework set out by Government, it is for the BBC Executive Board to manage licence fee collection. Under the terms of the 2006 Royal Charter the BBC Trust is required to ensure that the arrangements for the collection of the licence fee by the BBC Executive are efficient, appropriate and proportionate. In order to fulfil this function, the Trust has committed to regularly review the BBC Executive’s licence fee collection strategy, as part of the BBC’s annual report and accounts.Last year an independent review led by David Perry QC examined the current methods of enforcement, and we are considering the review’s recommendations as part of the ongoing Charter Review.

Ofcom: Courier Services

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the costs to Ofcom of couriering documents to its (a) board members and (b) Chief Executive in each of the last five years.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The department does not hold this information

Monuments: Flags

Dr Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he made of the flag flying policies adopted by other European states in respect of national monuments in developing his policy on that matter.

David Evennett: No specific assessment has been made of the policy adopted by other European states in respect of national monuments. The decision as and when to fly flags is largely a decision for individual organisations.

Monuments: Flags

Dr Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will request that English Heritage flies the Union Flag over national monuments in its custody in place of its own house flag on each day of the week.

David Evennett: There is not an intention to request changes to the English Heritage Trust’s flag flying protocol. Where English Heritage Trust sites, particularly those with military or royal connections, have more than one flagpole, the flag flying policy states that the Union Flag should be flown daily.

Monuments: Flags

Dr Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons English Heritage flies its own house flag over national monuments in its custody in preference to the Union Flag.

David Evennett: The English Heritage Trust flies its house flag at its historic sites as an important way for visitors to identify its properties. Where properties have more than one flagpole, they are encouraged to fly the Union flag. To mark certain important occasions, flag flying protocol may vary, including on the birthday of Her Majesty the Queen (21 April) and on Remembrance Day when the Union flag is flown from all sites with flagpoles.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: UK Membership of EU

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether her Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

George Eustice: The Government's view is that the UK should remain in the EU and the civil service is working full time to support the Government’s position.

Marine Management Organisation

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for consent determined by the Marine Management Organisation have required appropriate assessment of their effect on European wildlife sites since 2010.

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for consent have been determined by the Marine Management Organisation since 2010.

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for consent determined by the Marine Management Organisation have required environmental impact assessment since 2010.

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for consent have been refused by the Marine Management Organisation since 2010.

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for consent have required environment impact assessment by the Marine Management Organisation since 2010.

George Eustice: The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) database was established in April 2011 and accurate data for marine licence applications determined by the MMO are limited to post 1 April 2011. However, I can confirm that since April 2011: 50 fully determined marine licence applications have required an appropriate assessment;151 fully determined marine licence applications have required an environmental impact assessment;44 marine licence applications have been refused; and,3,849 fully determined marine licence applications have been approved, including 1,848 variations to an existing marine licence.

Forests: Wildlife

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect the diversity of wildlife in Forestry Commission land.

Rory Stewart: We are committed to keeping the Public Forest Estate in England in trust for the nation and for it to continue to be sustainably managed. The entire Public Forest Estate is independently certified as sustainably managed to the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS). A key element of this certification standard is the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. The Forestry Commission continues to maintain a high performance in the management of the 68,000 hectares of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) under its stewardship, increasing the area in favourable condition year on year. Overall 99.5% of these SSSIs by area are in favourable or recovering condition. It also supports a comprehensive range of species conservation projects, including the freshwater pearl mussel, rare birds of prey, woodland and heathland insects and the recovery of species such as the chequered skipper, ladybird spider and pool frog.

Flood Control: South East

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Environment Agency plans to spend on flood prevention for Crawley, Gatwick and the Upper River Mole over the next three years.

Rory Stewart: In the next three years the Environment Agency expects to spend £4,034,000 on completion of the Upper Mole Flood Alleviation Scheme. The Environment Agency also expect to spend £70,250 on studies to investigate future works and have a 2016-17 allocation of approximately £94,000 for maintenance works. The Upper Mole Flood Alleviation Scheme protects the communities of Crawley, Horley and Maidenbower as well as Gatwick Airport.

Recycling

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to meet the target of reaching a national recycling rate of 50 per cent by 2020.

Rory Stewart: The UK recycling rate has increased from 11% at the turn of the century, to 44.9% now. This progress is thanks in large part to the hard work of Local Authorities and householders.The Government is committed to meeting the 2020 EU recycling target of 50% of household waste.Local Authorities are best placed to determine the most appropriate waste collection and recycling services in their areas and we work with them and the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) to promote best practice.I have asked WRAP to look at what further measures can be taken to improve recycling rates and, in particular, the benefits and opportunities there are from having greater consistency in the materials collected and collection systems, to enable Local Authorities to recycle more, and to make it easier for householders to put the right materials in the right bin.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Energy: Meters

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, for what reasons a period of 12 months was set from the activation of the Data Communications Company for industry-wide transition from SMETS 1 to SMETS 2 smart meters.

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, for what reasons she decided that the installation of SMETS 1 meters should cease 12 months after the activation of the Data Communications Company.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government’s rationale for its decision on these matters is set out in its consultation on the Smart Metering Rollout Strategy, published in March 2015, and subsequent response, published in July 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/smart-metering-rollout-strategy. The SMETS1 end date reflects the need to ensure a transitional period from SMETS1 to SMETS2 meters, whilst ensuring that an enduring SMETS2 solution is made available at the earliest reasonable date.

Energy: Meters

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many smart (a) electric and (b) gas meters have been installed in (i) St Helens North constituency, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) the UK since the smart meter programme was implemented.

Andrea Leadsom: Data on the number of smart electricity and gas meters installed in Great Britain is set out in the Government’s ‘Smart Meters, Great Britain, Quarterly report to end September 2015’, published on 22 December 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistical-release-and-data-smart-meters-great-britain-quarter-3-2015. The roll-out is making good progress with more than 2 million meters now operating under the Programme which covers Great Britain. Northern Ireland is undertaking a separate roll-out programme. Currently, data is published only at Great Britain level. Data is not collected from energy suppliers in a way that allows constituency or regional-level data to be produced.

Energy: Meters

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the average number of households using smart (a) electric and (b) gas meters was in (i) St Helens North constituency, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) the UK in 2015.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department collects quarterly aggregated data from large energy suppliers on the number of smart meter installations, but does not collect data on the number of households with smart meters. Data on the number of smart electricity and gas meters installed in Great Britain is set out in the Government’s ‘Smart Meters, Great Britain, Quarterly report to end September 2015’, published on 22 December 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistical-release-and-data-smart-meters-great-britain-quarter-3-2015.

Attorney General

Elections: Tower Hamlets

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Attorney General, what the deadline is for criminal prosecutions to be brought by the Metropolitan Police against people implicated in electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets as a result of the Election Court rulings against former mayor Lutfur Rahman.

Robert Buckland: The time limit for bringing proceedings for a criminal offence depends on the court in which the case can be heard. Proceedings for those offences which can only be tried in the magistrates court must usually be brought within 6 months of the alleged offence being committed. There is not usually a time limit for those offences which can only be prosecuted in the Crown Court or which can be prosecuted in either the magistrates or Crown Court. There are exceptions in relation to individual offences.

Legal Opinion: Disclosure of Information

Paul Flynn: To ask the Attorney General, what criteria he uses when deciding whether to make public legal advice made available to Government; and on what occasions such legal advice has been made public since May 2015.

Jeremy Wright: It is a longstanding constitutional convention, set out in the Cabinet Manual and the Ministerial Code, that the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised, and the content of their advice, must not be disclosed without their authority. The convention exists for fundamental constitutional reasons and to promote the public interest in the Rule of Law. Whether the Law Officers have advised and the content of that advice is part of the collective Cabinet decision-making process. The convention reflects the public interest in collective Cabinet responsibility. It also reflects the fact that Law Officers’ advice is confidential legal advice and, as with all professional legal advice, it is subject to legal professional privilege. In addition, it acknowledges the feature of Law Officers’ advice which sets it apart from other legal advice, namely that it is sought in relation to issues of particular complexity, sensitivity and constitutional importance. It is a matter of constitutional importance that the provision of advice in these circumstances should be protected in the public interest. A decision to disclose would require an exceptional countervailing public interest. No such case has arisen since May 2015.

Sentencing

Ian Austin: To ask the Attorney General, if he will take steps to ensure that at the point of sentencing all available information on previous offences committed by the person to be sentenced is made available to the court.

Robert Buckland: It is vital that all relevant available information on previous convictions and sentences (antecedents) is made available to the court that passes sentence. This allows the court to pass a sentence commensurate with the seriousness of the offence taking account the offender’s previous convictions. There are already procedures in place to ensure thisThe Crown Prosecution Service, or other prosecuting authority in the case, obtains relevant antecedents and previous convictions from the police so that it is available for service on the court, with further copies being served on the defence and Probation Services. It is the responsibility of the prosecution advocate to ensure that the information required is made available to the court at any sentencing hearing.The Criminal Practice Directions [2013] EWCA Crim 1631 prescribe minimum standards for the provision of antecedent information in the magistrates’ and Crown Court. There is an additional requirement in the Crown Court for brief details of convictions likely to be of interest to the court to be made available prior to sentence being imposed.

Wales Office

Wales Office: UK Membership of EU

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

Stephen Crabb: At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Ministry of Justice

Prison Service: Re-employment

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers who have received (a) severance and (b) redundancy packages since May 2010 have subsequently been re-employed as prison officers.

Andrew Selous: Holding answer received on 14 December 2015



Between 1 May 2010 and 30 September 2015 60 prison officers left the prison service, received severance payments and have subsequently re-joined the National Offender Management Service as prison officers. Over the last Parliament, NOMS delivered £334m prison efficiency savings and £169m savings in prison capacity management through prison closures and the introduction of benchmarking. Voluntary exit was used in the last Parliament as a result of the closure of uneconomic prison places. These prison closures and benchmarking reforms have delivered savings of £300 million a year, with the average cost per prison place falling in real terms by 19% since 2009/10.  This figure is rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

National Tactical Response Group

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the National Tactical Response Group has been called out to (a) privately run prisons, (b) publicly run prisons and (c) the youth estate since May 2010; on what date each such callout occurred; and what the nature of the incident was on each of those occasions.

Andrew Selous: I refer the honourable member to my answer given to PQ 22415 on 1st March 2016.

Secure Training Centres

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions a child has made a complaints appeal to a monitor in (a) Hassockfield, (b) Medway, (c) Oakhill and (d) Rainsbrook secure training centre since each centre opened; and how many such appeals were upheld by the monitor.

Andrew Selous: We treat the allegations of abuse directed towards young people at the Medway Secure Training Centre (STC), run by G4S, with utmost seriousness. An independent improvement board has been put in place, to provide increased oversight, scrutiny and challenge of managerial arrangements, in particular in relation to the safeguarding of young people. The following table provided by the YJB shows the total number of complaints made by young people in Secure Training Centres, for each year between 2010 and 2015. Secure Training Centre201020112012201320142015Medway19517722481185107Oakhill266122175141196199Rainsbrook239229287130173139Hassockfield*150202661231320Total850730752475686445 *Hassokfield STC shows zero complaints in 2015, this is due to its closure on 9 January 2015.* The figures for complaints are the number of grievances or criticisms made by young people placed to the establishment by the YJB on criminal matters that are formally reported to the provider using their recorded documentation (i.e. complaint forms) in the calendar month. The figures shown are not the same as the number of young people making complaints as one young person could make more than one complaint. The monitor reviews all complaints and their outcomes, and will intervene if a complaint is not being dealt with as it should be. If a child is not happy with the outcome of a complaint, they can appeal to the Monitor. Information on the number of appeals is not held centrally.

Prison Service: Redundancy

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers taking voluntary early departure since May 2010 have had (a) up to six, (b) six to 12, (c) 12 to 18, (d) 18 to 24 and (e) over 24 months' continuous service.

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have taken up the voluntary early departure scheme in each month since May 2010; how much has been paid in severance in each month to those prison officers; what average amount is paid in severance to those prison officers; and what the average continuous service was of those prison officers.

Andrew Selous: Information on the number of prison officers taking voluntary early departure has been published in PQ 25478. The total and average amount of severance they received and their average length of service in each month since May 2010 is contained in the table below. The severance amounts in the table relate to the payments made to the officers who left during the particular month and may not reflect the actual date that the money was received. For this reason the information will not match with accounting records. All prison officers who left on voluntary early departure had at least 24 months continuous service. Voluntary exit was used in the last Parliament as a result of the closure of uneconomic prison places. These prison closures and benchmarking reforms have delivered savings of £300 million a year, with the average cost per prison place falling in real terms by 19% since 2009/10. Prison Officers Taking VEDS, May 2010 to September 2015YearMonthVEDS LeaversTotal Severance Received (£)Average Severance Received (£)Average Length of Service of VEDS leavers (Years)2010May~~~~ June~~~~ July~~~~ August70£2,132,290£29,20917.6 September~~~~ October~~~~ November~~~~ December~~~~2011January~~~~ February~~~~ March~~~~ April30£1,108,573£38,22717.1 May~~~~ June~~~~ July~~~~ August~~~~ September~~~~ October20£617,345£38,58422.7 November~~~~ December10£360,949£36,09521.82012January~~~~ February~~~~ March~~~~ April~~~~ May~~~~ June~~~~ July~~~~ August30£1,257,194£41,90621.1 September~~~~ October~~~~ November~~~~ December40£1,121,641£30,31514.62013January~~~~ February~~~~ March180£6,204,024£33,71819.5 April~~~~ May~~~~ June180£6,353,177£35,10020.3 July170£7,010,396£40,29019.7 August~~~~ September720£25,920,953£35,80218.9 October130£4,964,209£37,60820.8 November~~~~ December40£1,298,680£29,51517.22014January100£3,152,467£32,83820.0 February10£425,167£38,65224.5 March30£1,308,937£39,66519.8 April~~~~ May~~~~ June~~~~ July~~~~ August~~~~ September~~~~ October~~~~ November~~~~ December~~~~2015January~~~~ February~~~~ March~~~~ April~~~~ May~~~~ June~~~~ July~~~~ August~~~~ September~~~~   Notes:All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures. ~ denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer or calculations based on a population of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998. Information in the table relates to cases of voluntary exits where payment information is available. In a small number of cases information on severance payments does not reflect the reason for leaving held on the central reporting system and may vary slightly from leavers figures published from that source in the NOMS Workforce Bulletin.

Prison Service: Re-employment

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoner officers who have received severance or redundancy packages since May 2010 have been re-employed as prison officers.

Andrew Selous: I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 19304 on 7th March 2016.

Youth Custody: Cameras

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his Department's policy that all prison officers in youth facilities should wear body-mounted cameras.

Andrew Selous: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 04 March 2016.The correct answer should have been:

The safety and welfare of young people in custody is vital and we take all incidents of violence extremely seriously. A pilot of Body Worn Video Cameras (BWVCs) is currently taking place across 2423 prisons, including Cookham Wood, Feltham and Wetherby under -18 Young Offender Institutions. BWVCs are already in use at all Secure Training Colleges (STCs).

Andrew Selous: The safety and welfare of young people in custody is vital and we take all incidents of violence extremely seriously. A pilot of Body Worn Video Cameras (BWVCs) is currently taking place across 2423 prisons, including Cookham Wood, Feltham and Wetherby under -18 Young Offender Institutions. BWVCs are already in use at all Secure Training Colleges (STCs).

Prisons: Restraint Techniques

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 26 March 2015 to Question 226653, how many times force was used in prisons and how many injuries were sustained by prisoners as a result of the use of force in each (a) private and (b) public sector prison in each category of prison in England and Wales in each year since 2009-10.

Andrew Selous: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

European Arrest Warrants: Spain

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what total number of years sentencing was handed out to offenders brought back to the UK from Spain under a European Arrest Warrant as part of Operation Captura.

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average sentence length was of offenders sentenced after having been returned to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant in each of the last five years.

Dominic Raab: This information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The National Crime Agency publishes statistics on the operation of the European Arrest Warrant and these can be found here: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/european-arrest-warrant-statistics/wanted-by-the-uk-european-arrest-warrant-statistics/608-wanted-by-the-uk-european-arrest-warrant-statistics-2009-april-2015-1

Criminal Records: Children and Young People

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people aged (a) 14 to 17 and (b) 18 to 21 have a criminal record in England.

Andrew Selous: This information is not held by the Ministry of Justice.The Disclosure and Barring Service are responsible for managing and processing criminal record checks.

Cabinet Office

Prime Minister: Cleaning Services

Catherine West: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the rate of pay is for cleaners in 10 Downing Street.

Matthew Hancock: All staff and contractors based in Downing Street are paid at least the London Living Wage.

Government

Tom Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what shared platforms the Government is building or has commissioned to improve the delivery of Government services.

Matthew Hancock: The following platforms have been commissioned or built to improve the delivery of Government services:DepartmentsNameHMRC Home OfficeOne Government at the BorderMinistry of Justice Home OfficeDigital JusticeGDSGOV.UK VerifyGDSGOV.UKGDSGOV.UK PayGDSGOV.UK NotifyGDSPaaS / Hosting for digital servicesDWP HMRCCheck your state pension

Cabinet Office: Staff

Tom Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many officials in his Department are responsible for coordinating and developing international policy across Government.

Matthew Hancock: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 04 March 2016.The correct answer should have been:

Promoting diversity in the Senior Civil Service is a ministerial responsibility of the Minister for the Cabinet Office. I have had frequent such meetings, and details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published routinely and can be found on www. Gov.UK.As part of this Government’s transparency agenda, twice a year all Departments are required to publish an organogram and structure charts that contain information about the roles performed by staff. The latest Cabinet Office organogram is available at https://data.gov.uk/organogram/cabinet-office and the latest structure charts may be downloaded at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-structure-charts.

Matthew Hancock: Promoting diversity in the Senior Civil Service is a ministerial responsibility of the Minister for the Cabinet Office. I have had frequent such meetings, and details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published routinely and can be found on www. Gov.UK.As part of this Government’s transparency agenda, twice a year all Departments are required to publish an organogram and structure charts that contain information about the roles performed by staff. The latest Cabinet Office organogram is available at https://data.gov.uk/organogram/cabinet-office and the latest structure charts may be downloaded at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-structure-charts.

Senior Civil Servants: Equality

Tom Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has met external organisations in the last six months to discuss improving diversity in the Senior Civil Service.

Matthew Hancock: Promoting diversity in the Senior Civil Service is a ministerial responsibility of the Minister for the Cabinet Office. I have had frequent such meetings, and details of ministers' meetings with external organisations are published routinely and can be found on Gov.uk.

Small Businesses: North West

Jim McMahon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much central government expenditure on small and medium-sized enterprises in 2014-15 was spent in the North West.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the figures on central government spend with small and medium-sized enterprises, published on 5 December 2015, how much of the £12.1 billion was spent in 2014-15 with businesses located in the OL1, OL2, OL3, OL4, OL8, OL9 and M35 postcode areas.

Matthew Hancock: The Crown Commercial Service only collects regional spend data for direct spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so the following figures, which are taken from the Governments Spend Analytical tool, Bravo, do not incorporate spend through the supply chain.Direct spend with SMEs of £205,978,657.91 was reported in 2014-15 for the North West of England.During the same period, the following amounts were reported as going to small businesses in the requested locations:OL1 - £2,706,290.86OL2 - £18,611.30OL3 - £54,984.10OL4 - £66,325.40OL8 - £83,737.93OL9 - £566,399.25M35 - £76,074.91

Government Departments: Correspondence

Royston Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) average and (b) total cost incurred by a Government department was of replying by letter to hon. Members raising matters of policy or casework with that Department in each of the last three years.

Matthew Hancock: This information is not held and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Senior Civil Servants: Equality

Tom Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has met officials of the Cabinet Office to discuss improving diversity in the Senior Civil Service in the last six months.

Matthew Hancock: Promoting diversity in the Senior Civil Service is a ministerial responsibility of the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Details of my Ministers meetings with external organisations are published routinely and can be found on Gov.uk. Details of internal meetings are not disclosed.

Research: Finance

Peter Kyle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on organisations commissioning academic research of his Department's proposed regulations that would prevent recipients of government grant funding for research in using that work to call for government policy changes.

Matthew Hancock: Holding answer received on 03 March 2016



The new clause is about ensuring taxpayers money is only used for the intended purposes. The use or otherwise of research findings is already set out in grant agreements. There should, therefore, be no effect on organisations, which are free to use other funding to lobby, but not to spend taxpayers’ hard-earned cash on lobbying.

Lobbying

Patrick Grady: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his oral contribution of 25 February 2016, Official Report, column 486, when he plans to bring proposals for an anti-lobbying clause in Government grant agreements to the House for debate.

Matthew Hancock: Holding answer received on 03 March 2016



The grants clause will help to ensure that grant funding is always used for the intended purpose. It will prevent organisations from using their own privately raised funds to campaign as they see fit. Given the clear intention of the clause, To ensure taxpayers’ money is well spent, there are no plans to debate it at present.

Graduates: Recruitment

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's comments on equality in the Guardian newspaper on 26 October 2015, how many graduate employers the Government approached to ask them to pledge to anonymise job applications; how many such requests were (a) accepted and (b) rejected; and which graduate employers (i) accepted and (ii) rejected those offers.

Matthew Hancock: Holding answer received on 03 March 2016



The information requested is not collected or held centrally for this question as our approach is to role model best practice and encourage employers to adopt this practice.A range of organisations from across the public and private sector, together responsible for employing 1.8 million people in the UK, have ​signed up to the pledge to operate recruitment on ‘name blind’ basis to address discrimination.In October a number of organisations from across the public and private sector attended a roundtable at Downing Street ​to discuss this issue. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-time-to-end-discrimination-and-finish-the-fight-for-real-equalityThe Civil Service has adopted this as their default position for all external recruitment, including for graduate​s.​Other graduate recruiters who have committed to or are already delivering name-blind applications for all graduate and apprenticeship level roles include ​KPMG, HSBC, Deloitte, Virgin Money, BBC, NHS, learn-direct​​, teach first and local government.​We are continuing to encourage this practice across the public sector and beyond.

Cabinet Office: Freedom of Information

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which (a) serving and (b) former Ministers in his Department have used the Freedom of Information Act to seek information from the Department since that Act was brought into force.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has received from hon. Members since the coming into force of the Act.

Matthew Hancock: Due to the nature of the way FOI requests are recorded it is unfortunately not possible to identify the number of requests from all former and existing Cabinet Office Ministers or honourable members except at disproportionate cost.

Sexual Offences: Children and Young People

Jess Phillips: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people aged (a) under 16, (b) between 16 to 18 and (c) between 18 to 25 have been victims of indecent exposure where the perpetrator was under the age of 18 in each year since 2010.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people aged (a) under 16, (b) between 16 to 18 and (c) between 18 to 25 have been victims of a sexual offence in each year since 2010.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of how many people aged (a) under 16, (b) between 16 to 18 and (c) between 18 to 25 have been victims of domestic violence in each year since 2010.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people aged (a) under 16, (b) between 16 to 18 and (c) between 18 to 25 have been victims of harrassment in each year since 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



Excel Attachment for Member
(Excel SpreadSheet, 42 KB)




UKSA Letter for Member - Victims of Crimes
(PDF Document, 118.42 KB)

Asthma: Death

Conor McGinn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many children in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) England and Wales died from asthma in each year since 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Letter to Member - Death from Athma/Pregnancy
(PDF Document, 184.32 KB)

House of Commons Commission

House of Commons: Catering

Chris Bryant: To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, how many contracted canteen and hospitality staff worked on the parliamentary estate in each year since 2009.

Tom Brake: The House of Commons Commission has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.